
Class __^_:S3_G15 

Book ZKklLs 



56th Congress, j SENATE. J Document 

M Session. \ \ No. 190. 



LANDS HELD FOR ECCLESIASTICAL OR RELIGIOUS USES' 
IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, ETC. 



MESSAGE 



FROM THE 



PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, 

TRANSMITTING, 

IN RESPONSE TO RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE OF JANUARY 26, 
1901, A REPORT FROM THE SECRETARY OF WAR, WITH ACCOM- 
PANYING PAPERS, RELATIVE TO THE LANDS HELD IN MORT- 
MAliT OR OTHERWISE FOR ECCLESIASTICAL OR RELIGIOUS 
USES IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS; ALSO TRANSMITTING CER- 
TIFIED COPIES OF THE ACTS OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION, 
NUMBERS 66 TO 68, INCLUSIVE. 



February 25, 1901. — Kead, referred to the Committee on the Philippines, and 

ordered to t>e printed. 



To the Senate: 

In response to the resolution of the Senate. of January 26, 1901, as 
follows : 

Resolved, That the President, so far as in his judgment may be not inconsistent 
with the public interest, be requested to communicate to the Senate all information 
in his power or in that of any of the Executive Departments in regard to the lands 
held in mortmain or otherwise for ecclesiastical or religious uses in the Philippine 
Islands, including the character of the title to such lands, the extent and value of 
the same, and the parts of the islands where they exist; and further, whether he has 
in behalf of the Government entered into any obligation other than what is set forth 
in the late treaty with Spain in regard to their disposition or the maintenance of any 
alleged titles thereto, or has announced or declared any policy to be pursued in deal- 
ing Math such titles. Also to communicate to the Senate any map of the territory of 
the Philippine Islands or any part thereof in which these domains are laid down. 

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of War dated February 
19, 1901, with accompanying papers. 

I also transmit certified copies of the acts of the Philippine Commis- 
sion, numbers 56 to 68,* inclusive. 

William McKinley. 

Executive Mansion, 

February '25, lWi:\ 'V 



2 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. ' >i '^ -xyS 

War Department, 
Washington, Feljruary 19^ 1901. 
The President: 

I have the honor to report upon the subject-matter of the following- 
resolution of the Senate, dated January 26, 1901, forwarded to me by 
indorsement, dated Executive Mansion, January 28, 1901: 

• Resolved, That the President, so far as in his judgment may be not inconsistent 
with the piibHc interest, be requested to communicate to the Senate all information 
in his poAver or in that of any of the Executive Departments in regard to the lands 
held in mortmain or otherwise for ecclesiastical or religious uses in the Philippine 
Islands, including the character of the title to such lands, the extent and value of the 
same, and the parts of the islands where they exist; and further, w^hether he has in 
behalf of the Government entered into any obligation other than what is set forth in 
the late treaty with Spain in regard to their disposition or the maintenance of any 
alleged titles thereto, or has announced or declared any policy to be pursued in 
dealing with such titles. Also to communicate to the Senate any map of the terri- 
tory of the Philippine Islands or any part thereof in which these domains are laid 
down. 

1. The policy of the Executive to be pursued in dealing with titles 
to the lands held in mortmain or otherwise for ecclesiastical or reli- 
gious uses in the Philippine Islands was declared in your instructions 
to the Philippine Commissioners, transmitted to them through me on 
the 7th of April, 1900, as follows: 

It will be the duty of the commission to make a thorough investigation into the 
titles to the large tracts of land held or claimed by individuals or by religious orders; 
into the justice of the claims and complaints made against such landholders by the 
people of the island, or any part of the people, and to seek by wise and peaceable 
measures a just settlement of the controversies and redress of wrongs which have 
caused strife and bloodshed in the past. In the performance of this duty the com- 
mission is enjoined to see that no injustice is done; to have regard for substantial 
rights and equity, disregarding technicalities so far as substantial right permits, and 
to observe the following rules: 

That the provision of the treaty of Paris pledging the United States to the protec- 
tion of all rights of property in the islands, and as well the principle of our own 
Government, which prohibits the taking of private property without dueprocess of 
law, shall not be violated; that the w^elfare of the people of the islands, which should 
be a paramount consideration, shall be attained consistently with this rule of prop- 
erty right; that if it becomes necessary for the public interest of the people of the 
islands to dispose of claims to property which the commission finds to be not law- 
fully acquired and held, disposition shall be made thereof by due legal procedure, 
in which there shall be full opportunity for fair and impartial hearing and judgment; 
that if the same public interests require the extinguishment of property rights law- 
fully acquired and held, due compensation shall be made out of the public treasury 
therefor; that no form of religion and no minister of religion shall be forced upon 
any community or upon any citizen of the islands; that upon the other hand no 
minister of religion shall be interfered with or molested in following his calling, and 
that the separation between state and church shall be real, entire, and absolute. 

No one has in behalf of the Government of the United States entered 
into any obligation, other than that set forth in the late treaty with 
Spain, in regard to the disposition or maintenance of any alleged titles 
to such lands, nor has an}^ other policy to be pursued in dealing with 
such titles been declared or announced. 

2. In obedience to the above-cited instructions, the Philippine Com- 
mission has entered upon an investigation of the titles referred to in 
the resolution, and in its report, dated November 30, 1900, transmitted 
by you to Congress on the 25th of January, 1901, it has stated the 
results of its investigation up to that time as to the character of the 
title to such lands, the extent and value of the same, and the parts of 
the islands where they exist. The subdiyision of the report entitled 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 3 

''The Friars," beginning on page 23 of the printed document, relates 
especiall}^ to this subject. The subdivisions entitled "Public Lands" 
and "Land Titles and Registration" also contain matter relevant to 
the inquiries contained in the resolution. 

3. It will appear, by reference to page 16 of the above-cited report, 
that the commission has investigated specifically the contested title to 
the lands and buildings of the College of San Jose at Manila. Since 
the date of the report the commission has announced its conclusion that 
the claim adverse to the alleged right of the religious control of the 
said college has sufficient basis to require its submission to judicial 
decision. A copy of the written decision of the commission, stating 
the character of the title and the questions to be determined, and a 
copy of a rule or order adopted by the commission to confer jurisdic- 
tion of the controversy on the supreme court of the islands and regu- 
late the procedure therein, are transmitted herewith. 

4. The parts of the commission's report above referred to were to 
a considerable extent based upon testimony taken by the commission 
and reduced to writing. A copy of such testimony is transmitted 
herewith. 

5. The following reports, which have already been transmitted to 
Congress, also contain matter relevant to the inquiry of the resolution: 

(a) The report of the former Philippine Commission, Senate Docu- 
ment No. 138, Fifty-sixth Congress, first session, part 1, pages 130 to 
141 inclusive, the chapter entitled ' ' The Secular College and Religious 
Orders." Part 2 of the same document contains the evidence on that 
subject taken by that commission. 

(f) The report of ]\Iaj. Gen. Elwell S. Otis as military governor of 
the Philippines for the period ending May 5, 1900, contained in part 4, 
volume 1, of the report of the War Department for 1900, published 
as House Document No. 2. 

{c) The report of Maj. Gen. Arthur MacArthur for the period end- 
ing October 1, 1900, contained in part 10, volume 1, of the report of 
the War Department for 1900, published as House Document No. 2. 

6. The domains referred to in the resolution are not laid down in 
any of the maps of the territory of the Philippine Islands, or an}^ part 
thereof, in the possession or within the knowledge of the War 
Department. 

I beg to take this occasion to transmit certified copies of the acts of 
the Philippine Commission, numbered 56 to 68 inclusive. These, 
together with the acts which you transmitted to the Senate with 3^our 
message of Januar}^ 25, 1901, complete the record of acts of the com- 
mission from its organization to and including the second day of 
January. 

Very respectfully, Elihu Root, 

Secretary of War. 



United States Philippine Commission, 

Secretary's Office, 

Manila^ December 29^ 1900. 

I hereby certify that the annexed is a correct copy of an act passed 
by the United States Philippine Commission on the 12th day of Decem- 
ber, 1900, taken from the original on file in this office. 

[seal.] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 



4 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

[No. 56.] 

AN ACT providing for the retention in office of municipal councillors, elected under 
general order of the military governor No. 40, series of 1900, until a new municipal 
law shall have been enacted and put in operation. 

By authority of the President of the United States^ he it enacted hy 
the United States Philippine Cominission^ that: 

Section 1. All councillors in municipalities which have been organ- 
ized under general order of the military governor No. 40, series of 
1900, shall continue to hold office until a new municipal law shall have 
been enacted b}^ the Commission and their successors shall have been 
elected and shall have qualified in accordance Avith its provisions. 

Sec. 2. That portion of article 3 of said general order which pro- 
vides that the seats of councillors of the first class shall be vacated on 
the first Monda}^ of January, 1901, and that portion of article 8 of said 
order which provides that general municipal elections shall be held on 
the first Tuesday in December of each year, are hereb}^ repealed, pro- 
vided, that nothing herein shall be held to invalidate any elections which 
ma}^ have taken place before the passage of this act. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Enacted December 12, 1900. 



United States Philippine Commission, 

Secretary's Office, 

Manila^ Pecemher 29, 1900. 

I hereby certify that the annexed is a correct copy of an act passed 
by the United States Philippine Commission on the 12th day of Decem- 
ber, 1900, taken from the original on file in this office. 

[seal.] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 

[No. 57.] 

AN ACT requiring the civil service board to report to the United States Philippine 
Commission a plan for the readjustment of salaries paid in the civil service. 

Py authority of the President of the United States, he it enacted hy 
the United States Philippine Commission, that: 

Section 1. The civil service board shall proceed forthwith to inves- 
tigate the fairness of the salaries now paid to all the members of the 
Philippine civil service, and shall report at as early a day as possible a 
plan for the readjustment of such salaries under which the salaries paid 
shall be proportioned to the amount of labor and skill required and 
the responsibility imposed in the discharge of the duties of the respec- 
tive positions, and which shall afford opportunity for a proper classi- 
fication of positions under the civil service act. 

Sec. 2. In the prosecution of the investigation enjoined in the fore- 
going section, the civil service board is authorized through the mili- 
tary governor to summon to appear before it the heads of the civil 
departments and such of their subordinates as may be deemed neces- 
sary, to answer questions and to produce papers relevant to the inquiry. 
The board shall append to its report the evidence taken by it. In the 
execution of this act, the board shall also consider the report of a board 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 5 

of army officers to the military governor upon a readjustment of civil 
salaries and shall submit a comparison between its adjustment and that 
of said board of army officers, and where there is a difference, -its 
reasons. 

Sec. 3. In its investigation and report the board shall treat the 
offices, the duties of which are now discharged by officers of the Army 
or Navy under detail, as if filled by civilians, and shall report the 
proper salaries for such offices. It shall also investigate and report 
the salaries that, upon the same basis, should be paid to civilians per- 
forming clerical or other similar duties in military offices, but who are 
paid from the insular civil funds. 

Sec. 4. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Enacted December 12, 1900. 



United States Philippine Commission, 

Secretary's Office, 

Manila^ December 29, 1900. 
I hereby certify that the annexed is a correct copy of an act passed 
by the United States Philippine Commission on the 12th da}^ of 
December, 1900, taken from the original on file in this office. 

[seal.] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 

[No. 58.] 

AN ACT authorizing the establishment of local police in cities and towns of the 
Philippine Islands and appropriating one hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
(§150,000.00) , money of the United States, for their maintenance. 

JBy authority of the President of the United States, he it enacted hy 
the United States Philippine Cormnission., that: 

Section 1. The military governor is hereb}" authorized to establish 
a police force for the maintenance of law and order in such of the 
cities and towns of these islands as may by him be deemed desirable 
and advantageous to the public interests. 

Sec. 2. The sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
(1150,000.00), money of the United States, is hereby appropriated out 
of an}^ money in the insular treasury, not otherwise appropriated, for 
the purpose of paying the expenses incident to the organization and 
maintenance of the police established pursuant to the provisions of 
section 1 hereof. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Enacted December 12, 1900. 



United States Philippine Commission, 

Secretary's Office, 
Manila, Becemher W, 1900. 
I hereby certify that the annexed is a correct copy of an act passed 
\y^ the United States Philippine Commission on the 11th day of Decem- 
ber, 1900, taken from the original on file in this office. 

[seal.] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 



6 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

[No. 59.] 

AN ACT regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors within the city of Manila and 

its attached barrios. 

By authority of the President of the United States, he it enacted hy 
the United States Philipj)hie Coinmission, that: 

Section 1. All laws and regulations heretofore governing the issue 
of licenses for the sale of liquor within the jurisdictional limits of the 
city of Manila are hereb}^ repealed and the following substituted there- 
for, but nothing herein shall be construed as affecting an}^ outstanding 
license issued conformably to the laws and regulations formerly exist- 
ing until such licenses shall have expired or have been revoked for 
cause. 

Sec. 2. A license for a period of six (6) months may be issued to a 
person or persons of good character, authorizing him or them to keep 
and maintain, at a place to be specified in the license, a saloon, bar or 
drinking place for the sale of intoxicating liquors, including there- 
under fermented vinous, fermented malt and spirituous beverages, in 
quantities less than one gallon (3.78 litres), upon paj^ment in advance 
of the sum of six hundred (600) pesos. A license of this class shall be 
known as a "first-class bar license." 

Sec. 3. A license for a period of six (6) months may be issued to a 
person or persons of good character, authorizing him or them to keep 
and maintain, at a place to be specified in the license, a saloon, bar or 
drinking place for the sale of fermented malt or fermented vinous 
liquors only, in quantities less than one gallon (3.78 litres), upon pay- 
ment in advance of the sum of three hundred and fifty (350) pesos. A 
license of this class shall be known as a '* second-class bar license." 

Sec. 4. A license for a period of six (6) months may be issued to a 
person or persons of good character, owning or managing a bona fide 
theatre, authorizing him or them to keep and maintain a bar in the 
theatre, for the sale of fermented vinous, fermented malt and spirituous 
liquors in quantities less than one gallon (3.78 litres), which liquors 
may be sold or served to bona fide guests of the theatre in their seats 
or elsewhere on the premises, under such restrictions as to hours as 
ma}^ be prescribed by the provost-marshal-general, upon payment in 
advance of the sum of eight hundred (800) pesos. A license of this 
class shall be known as a " theatre liquor license. " 

Sec. 5. No application for. a license, or for a renewal thereof, to 
conduct a first or a second class bar, shall be received until the applicant 
or applicants shall have, at his or their ovs^n expense, published a notice 
in six consecutive editions of one Spanish and one English newspaper, 
to be designated by the provost-marshal-general, which notice shall be 
in such form as the provost-marshal-gencral ma}^ determine, and shall 
set forth the fact that on a certain date, it is proposed b}^ such applicant 
or applicants to make application at the (lepartment of licenses and 
municipal revenue for a license to conduct a har in the building situ- 
ated on a specified street and at a specified number. Such notice shall 
be signed by the applicant or applicants, and copies of the newspapers 
containing the notice shall be filed with the application. 

Sec. 6. All saloons, bars and other drinking places shall be closed 
from such hour at night as the provost-marshal may direct, or, in the 
absence of such direction, from the "curfew hour," or, in the absence 
of such direction and if no "curfew hour" be established, then from 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 7 

12 o'clock midnight until 6 o'clock a. m. the following da}^, except that 
when the following da}^ shall be Sunday they shall remain closed until 
6 o'clock a. m. the following Monda}- and it shall be unlawful for any 
person to sell, give away or otherwise dispose of an}^ fermented, malt, 
vinous or spirituous or other intoxicating liquors between the above- 
mentioned hours, except as hereinafter provided for; but the words 
" give away " where they occur in this act shall not apply to the giving 
awa}^ of intoxicating liquors by a person in his private dwelling, unless 
such private dwelling becomes a place of public resort. 

Sec. 7. («) A license for a period of six (6) months may be issued to 
a person or persons of good character, owning or managing bona fide 
hotels, restaurants, or cafes, authorizing him or them to sell, serve, 
give aw^ay, or otherwise dispose of fermented vinous, fermented malt, 
and spirituous beverages or liquois in quantities less than one gallon 
(3.78 litres) to bona fide guests of such hotels, restaurants, or cafes with 
bona fide meals, at an}" and all hours, upon the paj^ment in advance of 
the sum of two hundred and fifty (250) pesos. A license of this class 
shall be known as a "first-class restaurant liquor license." 

(b) A license for a period of six (6) months ma}- be issued to a per- 
son or persons of good character, owning or managing bona fide hotels, 
restaurants, or cafes, authorizing him or them to sell, serve, give away, 
or otherwise dispose of fermented malt or fermented vinous beverages 
or liquors in quantities less than one gallon (3.78 litres) to bona fide 
guests of such hotels, restaurants, or cafes with bona fide meals, at any 
and all hours, upon the payment in advance of the sum of one hundred 
and fifty (150) pesos. A license of this class shall be known as a 
"second-class restaurant liquor license." 

Sec. 8. {a) A license for a period of six (6) months maybe issued to 
a person or persons of good character, owning or managing bona fide 
hotels and holding for such hotel a "first-class restaurant liquor 
license," authorizing him or them to sell, serve, give away, or other- 
wise dispose of fermented vinous, fermented malt, and spirituous bev- 
erages or liquors in quantities less than one gallon (3.78 litres) to bona 
fide guests of such hotels in their rooms, at any and all hours, upon 
payment in advance of the sum of two hundred and fifty (250) pesos. 
A license of this class shall be known as a "first-class hotel liquor 
license." 

(Jj) A license for a period of six (6) months ma}' be issued to a per- 
son or persons of good character, owning or managing bona fide hotels 
and holding for such hotel a "second-class restaurant liquor license," 
authorizing him or them to sell, serve, give away, or otherwise dispose 
of fermented malt and fermented vinous beverages or liquors in quan- 
tities less than one gallon (3.78 litres) upon payment in advance of the 
sum of one hundred and fifty (150) pesos. A license of this class shall 
be known as a "second-class hotel liquor license." 

Sec. 9. None of the above-mentioned licenses shall be construed to 
permit the keeping in stock, selling, giving away, or otherwise dispos- 
ing of an}" of the so-called native wines, such as "vino," " anisado," 
" tuba," etc., and it shall be unlawful to keep in stock, sell, give away, 
or otherwise dispose of any such so-called native wines at any place for 
the keeping or maintaining of which any of the above-mentioned 
licenses shall have issued. 

Sec. 10. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons to conduct 
or maintain any saloon, bar, or drinking place without first having 



8 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

obtained a license therefor, or to keep in stock, sell, give away, or 
otherwise dispose of any intoxicating liquors that are not included 
within the license so obtained; and it shall likewise be unlawful for 
the proprietor or manager of any hotel, restaurant, or cafe to keep in 
stock, sell, serve, giv^e away, or otherwise dispose of any intoxicating 
liquor without having obtained a license therefor as prescribed in this 
act. It shall be unlawful for any employe or agent of the proprietor 
of a saloon, bar, drinking place, hotel, restaurant, or cafe to sell or 
give away liquor when no license has been issued to his principal 
authorizing the same. 

Sec. 11. It shall be unlawful to play or permit to be played any 
musical instrument or conduct or operate or permit to be conducted 
or operated any gambling device, slot machine, phonograph, billiard 
or pool table, or other form of amusement in saloons, bars, or drink- 
ing places, but this shall not be construed as prohibiting music in the 
dining or other rooms than the barrooms of bona fide hotels holding 
liquor licenses, or in theatres holding "theatre liquor licenses." 

It shall be unlawful for the holder of licenses herein provided for to 
maintain any but a clean, quiet, and orderly place, or to sell or serve 
or permit to be sold or served any intoxicating liquors to any intoxi- 
cated person, or to permit such persons to be or remain in or about 
the premises where such liquors are kept for sale, or to sell or keep 
therein any wine, beer, or liquor, except such as is of good standard 
quality and free from adulteration. 

Sec. 12. A license for a period of six (6) months may be issued to 
a person or persons of good character, authorizing him or them to 
maintain a shop for the keeping in stock, selling, giving away, or 
otherwise disposing of such native wines (so called) and liquors only 
as are not now or shall not hereafter be prohibited to be manufactured 
and sold, in quantities less than one gallon (3.78 litres), upon payment 
in advance of the sum of one and one-half (li) pesos; but no such 
license shall be construed to include or authorize the keeping in stock, 
selling, giving away, or otherwise disposing of any of the liquors or 
beverages included within the licenses provided for in sections 2 and 3 
of this act, and it shall be unlawful to keep in stock, sell, give away, 
or otherwise dispose of any of such liquors or beverages at any place 
licensed for the sale of native wines and liquors. A license of this 
class shall be known as a " native-wine license," and it shall be unlaw- 
ful for any person or persons to sell such native wines or liquors or to 
maintain a shop for keeping in stock, selling, serving, giving away, or 
otherwise disposing of any such native wines or liquors without such 
license, or, having obtained such license, to sell, serve, give away, or 
otherwise dispose of such wines and liquors except as herein prescribed. 

Sec. 13. Licenseis for periods of one year may be issued to any per- 
son or persons of good character operating a regularly licensed, bona 
fide apothecary shop or drug store, authorizing him or them to sell, 
give away, or otherwise dispose of fermented malt, fermented vinous, 
and spirituous liquors in quantities not less than one bottle nor more 
than one case or one barrel of bottles, and of such intoxicating liquors 
as may be kept in bulk to sell, give awa}^, or otherwise dispose of not 
less than two (2) litres nor more than fift}^ (50) litres at any one time 
or to any one person, upon payment in advance of the sum of one 
hundred (100) pesos. Such license shall be known as a "druggist's 
liquor license," and it shall be unlawful for the proprietor of any drug 
store or apothecary shop or for his employes or agents to sell, serve. 



CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 9 

give away, or otherwise dispose of any intoxicating liquors without 
such license, or, having obtained such license, to sell, serve, give awa}^, 
or otherwise dispose of such intoxicating liquors except as herein pro- 
vided, or to allow any such liquors to be drunk upon the premises. 

Sec. 14. Licenses for periods of one year may be issued to any per- 
son or persons of good character operating a regularly licensed, bona 
fide grocery store, authorizing him or them to sell, give away, or 
otherwise dispose of malt, fermented, vinous, and spirituous liquors in 
quantities not less than one bottle nor more than one case or one barrel 
of such bottles, and of such intoxicating liquors as may be kept in bulk 
to sell, give away, or otherwise dispose of not less than two (2) litres 
nor more than fift}^ (50) litres at any one time or to any one person, 
upon payment in advance of the sum of one hundred (100) pesos. Such 
license shall be known as a "grocery liquor license," and it shall be 
unlawful for the proprietor of an}^ grocery or any of his emploj^es or 
servants to sell, serve, give awa}^, or otherwise dispose of any intoxi- 
cating liquors without such license, or having obtained such license, 
to sell, serve, give away, or otherwise dispose of such intoxicating 
liquors except as herein provided, or to allow any such liquors to be 
drunk upon the premises. 

Sec. 15. Licenses for periods of one year may be issued to any per- 
son or persons of good character, authorizing him or them to conduct 
the business of a brewer and to sell, give away, or otherwise dispose 
of the products of his or their brewery in quantities of one gallon 
(3.78 litres) or more, upon payment in advance of the sum of twelve 
hundred (1,200) pesos. A license of this class shall be known as a 
" brewer's license," and it shall be unlawful for any person or persons 
to conduct any brewery without such license, or, having secured such 
license, to sell, give away, or otherwise dispose of the products of 
such brewery except as herein prescribed. 

Sec. 16. Licenses for periods of one year may be issued to an}^ per- 
son or persons of good character, authorizing him or them to conduct 
the business of a distiller of alcoholic liquors and to sell, give away, 
or otherwise dispose of the products of such distillery in quantities of 
one gallon (3.78 litres) or more, upon payment in advance of the sum 
of six hundred (600) pesos. A license of this class shall be known as a 
'' distiller's license," and it shall be unlawful for an}^ person or persons 
to conduct any distillery for the manufacture of alcoholic liquors with- 
out such license, or, having secured such license, to sell, give away, or 
otherwise dispose of the products of such distillery except as herein 
prescribed. 

Sec. 17. Licenses for periods of one year may be issued to any per- 
son or persons of good character, authorizing him or them to keep in 
stock and sell or give away fermented malt, vinous, and spirituous liq- 
uors in quantities of one gallon (3.78 litres) or more upon payment in 
advance of the sum of twelve hundred (1,200) pesos. A license of 
this class shall be known as a " first-class wholesale liquor license," 
and it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to sell or otherwise 
dispose of fermented malt, vinous, and spirituous liquors at wholesale 
without such license, or, having obtained such license, to sell or other- 
wise dispose of such liquors except as herein prescribed; but nothing 
herein shall be construed as prohibiting any person or persons holding 
a ''brewer's license" or "distiller's license" from disposing of the 
products of such brewery or distillery. 



10 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Sec. 18. Licenses for periods of one year may be issued to any per- 
son or persons of good character, authorizing him or them to keep in 
stock and sell or give away fermented malt and fermented vinous liq- 
uors in quantities of one gallon (3.78 litres) or more upon payment in 
advance of the sum of six hundred (600) pesos. A license of this class 
shall be known as a ''second-class wholesale liquor license," and it shall 
be unlawful for any person or persons to sell or otherwise dispose of 
fermented malt or fermented vinous liquors at wholesale without such 
license, or, having obtained such license, to sell or otherwise dispose of 
any liquor but fermented malt or fermented vinous liquors, or to sell 
or otherwise dispose of such liquors except as herein prescribed. 

Sec. 19. Licenses for periods of one year ma}" be issued to any per- 
son or persons of good character, authorizing him or them to keep in 
stock fermented vinous liquors, except champagne and other sparkling 
wines, and to sell such fermented vinous liquors in quantities of not 
less than one bottle, and of such liquors as are kept in bulk to sell pot 
less than two (2) litres, not to be drunk upon the premises, upon pay- 
ment in advance of the sum of fifty-two (52) pesos. Such license shall 
be known as a "third-class wholesale liquor license," and it shall be 
unlawful for any person or persons to sell, give awa}^ or otherwise 
dispose of fermented vinous liquors at wholesale without such license, 
or, having obtained such license, to sell, give away, or otherwise dis- 
pose of an}^ liquor but fermented vinous liquor, not including cham- 
pagne or other sparkling wines, or to sell, give away, or otherwise 
dispose of such liquor except as herein prescribed. 

Sec. 20. No license shall be transferred from one person to another 
or from one place to another except by the written authority of the 
provost-marshal-general, and no transfer shall be made which involves 
the addition of privileges. 

For all authorized transfers ten per cent of the original fee shall be 
collected. 

Sec. 21. It shall be the duty of the holder of ever}^ license for the 
sale of intoxicating liquors to keep it posted in a conspicuous place in 
the room where the liquors are sold, and the failure to do so is hereby 
declared unlawful. 

Sec. 22. All licenses herein provided for shall be issued by the 
department of licenses and municipal revenue. 

Sec. 23. No license shall be granted for the sale of any intoxicating 
liquor in the public markets, kioskos, booths, or stands situated in 
the public streets or plazas, or to street vendors or peddlers, and no 
"first-class bar license," "second-class bar license," or "theatre liquor 
license " shall be issued for any barroom being or having an entrance 
on any of the following-named streets and plazas: The Escolta, Calle 
Rosario, Plaza Moraga, Plaza Cervantes, and that portion of Calle 
Nueva between Calle San Vicente and the Bridge of Spain, and an}^ of 
the streets, alleys, or passageways lying between Calle San Vicente 
and the line of that street extended to the Estero de San Jacinto on 
the north, the Pasig River on the south, Calle Nueva on the west, and 
the Estero de San Jacinto on the east, all in the district of Binondo. 

Sec. 24. Nothing in this act shall be construed as authorizing the 
sale, gift, or other disposal to soldiers of the United States Army of 
any of the so-called "native wines," such as "vino," " anisado," 

tuba," etc., which is declared to be unlawful. 



(,(. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 11 

Sec. 25. Criminal prosecutions hereunder shall be instituted in the 
provost courts against the person or persons violating an}^ of the pro- 
visions of this act, and upon conviction thereof offenders shall be pun- 
ishable for each offense by line not to exceed two hundred (200) pesos, 
or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six (6) months, or both, at 
the discretion of the trial court. 

In addition to the above penalty, any holder of a license herein pro- 
vided for, upon being convicted of a violation of any of the provisions 
of this act, or of any police regulation or law governing the manufac- 
ture or sale of liquor, now or which shall hereafter be in force in Manila, 
shall become liable to have his, her, or their license revoked and can- 
celed by the provost-marshal-general in his discretion; but in case any 
holder of a license herein provided for shall be convicted of selling, 
giving away, or otherwise disposing of any intoxicating liquor during 
the hours wherein the sales of such liquors are prohibited, or shall be 
convicted of selling, giving away, or otherwise disposing of liquors not 
included in his, her, or their license, or shall be convicted of selling, 
giving away, or otherwise disposing of any intoxicating liquor to any 
intoxicated person, or shall be convicted of violating section 24 of this 
act, in addition to the above penalty, his, her, or their license shall at 
once become null and void as a consequence of an}^ such conviction. 

Sec. 26. The short title of this act shall be "The Manila Liquor 
Licenses Act." 

Sec. 27. The provisions of this act shall take effect upon its passage, 
except the provisions of section 11, which shall take effect on January 
1st, 1901, and those of section 23, which shall take effect July 1st, 1901. 

Enacted December 14:th, 1900. 



United States Philippine Commission, 

Secretary's Office, 
Manila, Dectmber %9, 1900. 
I hereby certify that the annexed is a correct copy of an act passed 
by the United States Philippine Commission on the 19th day of Decem- 
ber, 1900, taken from the original on file in this office. 

[seal.] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 

[No. 60.] 

AN ACT appropriating one hundred and twenty-seven dollars and eighty-one cents 
($127.81) Mexican money and two hundred and eighty-three thousand five hun- 
dred and forty-four dollars and fifty-four cents (.1)283,544.54) in money of the 
United States to pay expenses incurred and salaries earned, not provided for in the 
general appropriation act for December. 

By aivtliority of the President of the United States^ he it enacted hy 
the United States Philippine 'Commission^ that: 

Section 1. The sum of one hundred and twenty-seven dollars and 
eighty -one cents (^127.81), in Mexican money, is hereby appropriated 
out of any money in the insular treasur}^ not otherwise appropriated, 
to be paid to the collector of internal revenue of the islands for a 
refund of surtaxes erroneously collected in the third district. Depart- 
ment of Southern Luzon. 



12 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Sec. 2. The following sums in money of the United States are hereby 
appropriated out of any money in the insular treasury not otherwise 
appropriated, to pay expenses incurred and salaries earned, not pro- 
vided for in the general appropriation act for December, and for the 
purposes and objects hereinafter specified, viz: 

For the chief quartermaster for the Division of the Philippines: 

For the construction of additional go-downs for the custom house on 
ground space omitted in the original contract, four thousand one hun- 
dred and seventy -seven dollars and sixt3^-one cents (14,177.61); for 
amount estimated to complete refrigerating and ice plant at Manila, 
one hundred and seventy-eight thousand three hundred and forty-six 
dollars and sixty-four cents (^178,346.61); 

Total for the chief quartermaster for the Division of the Philip- 
pines, one hundred and eighty-two thousand five hundred and twenty- 
four dollars and twentj^-tive cents ($182,524.25). 

For the disbursing quartermaster of civil bureaus: 

For the purchase of assorted redwood lumber, hereby authorized 
to be brought from the United States for the use of the civil depart- 
ment of the Philippine government for the year 1901, twelve thousand 
dollars (112,000); for salary of additional clerk at one hundred dollars 
per month, hereby authorized, one hundred dollars ($100); 

Total for the disbursing quartermaster of civil bureaus, tw^elve thou- 
sand one hundred dollars ($12,100). 

For the office of the provost-marshal-general and departments 
reporting to him: 

For the department of city public works: 

For the completion of the Divisoria market, in accordance with the 
original plans of the city engineer, thirt^'-two thousand and three hun- 
dred dollars ($32,300). 

For the department of police: 

For the employment of two additional interpreters at fifty dollars 
($50) per month each, hereby authorized, one hundred dollars ($100). 

Total for the office of the provost-marshal-general and departments 
reporting to him, thirty-two thousand and four hundred dollars 
($32,400). 

For the collector of customs of the islands and of the chief port: 

For the purchase of two steam launches, hereby authorized, twenty 
thousand dollars ($20,000); for payment of secret service force of the 
customs office for the month of December, five hundred dollars ($500). 

Total for the collector of customs of the islands and of the chief 
port, twent}'' thousand and five hundred dollars ($20,500). 

For the chief commissary. Division of the Philippines: 

For reimbursement to subsistence department for the subsistence of 
native convicts during the months of September, October, and Novem- 
ber, 1900, fourteen hundred and forty-seven dollars and seventy-nine 
cents ($1,447.79). 

For the forestry bureau: 

For the printing of two thousand (2,000) copies of the work on 
native woods of the Philippine Islands, hereby authorized, seventeen 
hundred and fifty dollars ($1,750); for lithographing of the plates for 
two thousand (2,000) copies of the same, hereby authorized, eighteen 
hundred and fifty dollars ($1,850). 

Total for the forestry bureau, three thousand and six hundred dollars 
($3,600). 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 13 

For the chief quartermaster of the Department of Northern Luzon: 

For the purchase of native ponies hereby authorized for the squad- 
ron of Philippine Cavalry, thirty thousand dollars ($30,000). 

For the provost-marshal at Cavite: 

For the pay of ten (10) privates of the provost guard at twelve 
dollars ($12) per month, and of a janitor for the provost-marshal 
building at twelve dollars and fift}^ cents ($12.50) per month, one 
hundred and thirty-two dollars and fifty cents ($132.50). 

For the chief surgeon at Uoilo: 

For the purchase of three months' medical supplies for ten thousand 
(10,000) natives in the Department of the Yisa3^as, seven hundred and 
fifty dollars ($750). 

For the militarj^ commander at Balayan, Province of Batangas: 

For the hire of three school teachers for the months of October, 
November, and December, 1900, ninety dollars ($90.00). 

Total of appropriations in mone}^ of the United States, two hundred 
and eighty-three thousand five hundred and fortj^-four dollars and 
fifty-four cents ($283,541.51). 

Sec. 3. The public good requiring the speedj^ enactment of this 
appropriation bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in 
accordance with section 2 of "An act prescribing the order of pro- 
cedure by the commission in the enactment of laws," passed September 
26, 1900." 

Sec. 1. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Enacted December 19, 1900. 



United States Philippine Coivimission, 

Secretary's Office, 

Ma7iila, December 29, 1900. 

I hereby certify that the annexed is a correct cop}'' of an act passed 
by the United States Philippine Commission on the 21st day of Decem- 
ber, 1900, taken from the original on file in this office. 

[seal.] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 

[No. 61.] 

AN ACT authorizing the construction of a highway from the vicinity of the town of 
Pozorubio, in the province of Pangasinan, to Baguio, in the province of Benguet, 
and appropriating seventy-five thousand dollars (|75,000) money of the United 
States for that purpose. 

Sy authority of the President of the United States^ he it enacted hy 
the United States Philipvine Commission.^ that: 

Section 1. The construction of a highway from the vicinit}^ of the 
town of Pozorubio, in the province of Pangasinan, to the town of 
Baguio, in the province of Benguet, is hereby authorized and directed, 
the same to be built under the general supervision of the military 
governor and the immediate direction of Captain Charles W. Mead, 
36th Inf antr}^, U. S. V. , who has been detailed by the military gov- 
ernor for that purpose, along the general line of surve}^ recently made 
by Captain Mead for a railroad between said towns. He is hereby 
authorized and empowered to make all contracts for assistants, labor, 



14 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

supplies, and material necessaiy and proper for the performance of 
this work, and will push the same to completion by July 1st, 1901. 

Sec. 2. The sum of seventy -five thousand dollars ($75,000) money 
of the United States is hereb}^ appropriated out of any mone}^ now in 
the insular treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of 
defraying the expenses incident to the construction of the highway 
authorized in section one hereof. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Enacted December 21, 1900. 



United States Philippine Commission, 

Secketary's Office, 
Manila, JDecemler '29, 1900. 
1 hereby certify that the annexed is a correct copy of an act passed 
by the United States Philippine Commission on the 21st day of Decem- 
ber, 1900, taken from- the original on file in this office. 

[seal,] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 

[No. 62.] 

AN ACT authorizing the provost-marshal-general to establish police and health 
regulations in the nature of municipal ordinances for the city of Manila. 

By authority of the President of the United States, he it enacted hy 
the United States Philij)pine Commission, that: 

Section 1. The provost-marshal -general shall have power, subject 
to the approval of the military governor, to make and issue police and 
health regulations in the nature of municipal ordinances for the city 
of Manila, not in violation of existing orders of the military gov- 
ernor or legislation of the commission, which he shall, after their 
issue, report to the commission through the military governor. 

Sec. 2. Provision ma}^ be made in said regulations for the hearing 
and punishment of violations of said regulations in the inferior or 
superior provost courts of Manila, but the punishment for any- such 
violation shall not exceed one hundred pesos or three months' imprison- 
ment, or both. 

Sec. 3. The commission may suspend, amend, or repeal said regu- 
lations. 

Sec. 1. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Enacted December 21, 1900. 



United States Philippine Commission, 

Secretary's Office, 
Manila, December 29, 1900. 
I hereby certify that the annexed is a correct copy of an act passed 
by the United States Philippine Commission on the 21st day of Decem- 
ber, 1900, taken from the original on file in this office. 

[seal.] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary 



CHURCH LAXDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 15 

[No. 63.] 
AN ACT prescribing the method to be adopted in the construction of laws. 

By authority of the President of the United States^ he it enacted hy 
the United States Philippine Commission^ that: 

Section 1. In the construction of all acts which have been or shall 
be enacted by the United States Philippine Commission the English 
text shall govern, except that in obvious cases of ambiguity, omission^ 
or mistake the Spanish text may be consulted to explain the English 
text. 

Sec. 2. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Enacted December 21, 1900. 



United States Philippine Commission, 

Secretary's Office, 
Manila^ December 29^ 1900. 
I hereby certif}^ that the annexed is a correct cop}^ of an act passed 
by the United States Philippine Commission on the 21st day of Decem- 
ber, 1900, taken from the original on file in this office. 

[seal.] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 

[No. 64.] 

AN ACT extending General Order No. 30 of the mihtary governor dated March 10, 
1900, relating to customs duties in the Jolo Archipelago, until December 31, 1901, 
and enlarging its provisions. 

By aidhority of the President of the United States., he it enacted hy 
the United States Philijypine Commission., that: 

Section 1. Whereas the sultan of the Jolo Archipelago and the Moro 
inhabitants thereof have been loyal to the United States, and have 
preserved peace and order in a manner unprecedented in the history of 
the Spanish control of that archipelago; and 

Whereas the said Moros have, during the past year, suffered severely 
from loss of cattle by reason of an epidemic disease, in consequence of 
which Major-General Otis issued General Order No. 30, dated March 
10, 1900, suspending until December 31, 1900, the prescribed customs 
dues on the importation of cattle, articles of food, petroleum, tobacco, 
matches, clothing and articles for use in the manufacture of the same, 
sewing machines, agricultural implements, and machinery for use in 
preparing products of the soil for home consumption or export, pro- 
vided such articles of consumption, trade or merchandise were owned, 
imported, and handled b}^ the native inhabitants of the said archipel- 
ago, and that all business connected therewith in the archipelago was 
conducted b}^ and between the inhabitants thereof, and further permit- 
ting the Moro inhabitants of the archipelago to export free of duty all 
products of the soil where they were solely concerned in person and 
interest in handling and shipping the same; and 

Whereas the conditions leading to the issue of General Order No. 30 
have not improved, and the necessity for the relief therein extended 
continued and a somewhat wider relief is demanded — 

The operation of General Order No. 30, of March 10, 1900, is hereby 



16 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

extended to December 31, 1901, and is enlarged so as to include within 
its exemptino- provisions, furniture, lumber and the material for the 
construction of houses and boats, crockery and glassware, wagons, 
carts, books, and stationery. 

Sec. 2. In view of the emergenc}^ presented by the above conditions, 
and the public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the 
passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 
of ''An act prescribing the order of procedure by the commission in 
the enactment of laws," passed September 26, 1900. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Enacted, December 21, 1900. 



United States Philippine Commission, 

Secretary's Office, 

Manila^ January 10^ 1901, 
I hereby certify that the annexed is a correct copy of an act passed 
by the United States Philippine Commission on the 31st day of De- 
cember, 1900, taken from the original on file in thisoffice. 

[seal.] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 

[No. 65.] 

AN ACT appropriating one hundred and twenty-one thousand and ninety-nine dollars 
and three cents ($121,099.03), in Mexican money, and one milhon one hundred 
and ninety-two thousand three hundred and fifty-two dollars and sixty-six 
cents ($1,192,352.63), in money of the United States, for the payment of sundry 
expenses incurred for the benefit of the insular government for the first quarter 
of the year 1901 and other designated periods. 

By authority of the President of the United States, he it enacted hy 
the United States Philippine Commission, that: 

Section 1. The sum of one hundred and twenty-one thousand and 
ninety-nine dollars and three cents (1121,099.03), in Mexican money, 
is hereby appropriated out of any money in the insular t?;easury, not 
otherwise appropriated, to be paid to the chief quartermaster of the 
United States Army for the Division of the Philippines, for the pur- 
poses and objects hereinafter expressed, viz: 

For repairs to the roof of the hospital at Bacoor, thirteen hundred 
and nine dollars ($1,309); for the construction of dock in depot quar- 
termaster's office, Southern Luzon, for the construction of wharf at 
Tayabas, and for the purchase of supplies for government corral, three 
thousand one hundred and forty-six dollars ($3,116); for repairs to 
buildings, for purchase of lime for the depot quartermasters, for 
rent of launch, for telegraph and telephone linemen, for water supply 
at Mariveles, for funds for the Department of Southern Luzon, for 
funds for the Department of the Visayas, for miscellaneous expenses 
and to meet emergency expenses and transfer of funds, one hundred 
and sixteen thousand six hundred and forty-four dollars and three 
cents ($116,611.03). 

Sec. 2. The following sums in money of the United States are 
hereby appropriated out of any money in the insular treasury, not 
otherwise appropriated, for the pa3^ment of current expenses of the 
insular government, for the first quarter of the year 1901 and other 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 17 

designated periods, for the purposes and objects hereinafter expressed, 
viz: 

For the chief quartermaster of the United States Army for the Divi- 
sion of the Philippines: 

For telegrams and telephones, twenty-seven thousand dollars 
(127,000); for the cleaning of cesspools, for printing of orders and 
blanks required in the division, and for the purchase of office furniture 
and fixtures, twentj^-eight thousand and five hundred dollars ($28,500); 
for rents and repairs to buildings, for reimbursement for hire of quar- 
ters in Mindanao and Jolo, for the purchase of two steam rollers, for 
funds for the Department of Northern Luzon, funds for the Department 
of Southern Luzon, for funds for the Department of Mindanao and 
Jolo, for funds for the Department of the Visayas, for funds for the 
depot quartermaster at Manila, for the Santa Mesa Hospital, and to 
meet emergenc}^ expenses, three hundred and ninety-two thousand 
eight hundred and forty dollars ($392,840). 

Total for the chief quartermaster of the United States Army for the 
Division of the Philippines, four hundred and forty-eight thousand 
three hundred and fort}^ dollars ($■448,34:0). 

For the disbursing quartermaster of ci\dl bureaus: 

For authorized salaries for the judges, officers, and employes of the 
court of first instance at Vigan, the court of the peace at Vigan, the 
court of first instance at Dagupan, the court of the peace at Dagupan, 
the court of first instance at Bacolor, the court of the peace at Bacolor, 
the court of first instance at Iloilo, the court of the peace atlloilo, the 
court of first instance at Cebu, the court of the peace at Cebu, the court 
of first instance at Cavite, the court of the peace at Cavite, the court of 
first instance at San Isidro, the court of the peace at San Isidro, the court 
of first instance at Laoag, the court of the peace Laoag, the court of 
first instance at La Union, the court of first instance at Balanga, the 
court of the peace at Balanga, the court of first instance at Bohol, 
the court of first instance at Tueguegarao, and the court of the 
peace at Tueguegarao, fourteen thousand eight hundred and fifty-three 
dollars and thirty cents ($14,853.30). 

For pay of civil emplo3^es in the offices of the following officers: 

The board of officers on claims, five hundred and fortj^-nine dollars 
and ninety-nine cents ($549.99); the chief quartermaster, nine hun- 
dred and fifty-two dollars and fifty cents ($952.50); the judge-advocate, 
fifteen hundred and eighty-two dollars and fifty cents ($1,582.50); the 
military secretary, three thousand five hundred and forty-nine dollars 
and ninet3^-nine cents ($3,549.99); the officer in charge of insurgent 
records, one thousand and twenty -four dollars and ninety-eight cents 
($1,024.98); the supreme court, three thousand two hundred and eighty- 
four dollars and one cent ($3,284.01); the inspector-general, seven 
hundred and twenty -five dollars and one cent ($725.01); the adjutant- 
general, sixteen thousand five hundred and sixty dollars ($16,560), to 
be expended as follows: Fourteen hundred dollars ($1,400) to provide 
additional compensation, hereby authorized, to those clerks considered 
by the major-general commanding deserving of promotion; four thou- 
sand nine hundred and ten dollars ($4,910) to enable the commanding 
general to continue in employment those clerks who have heretofore 
been paid from the revenue of the islands; ten thousand two hundred 
and fifty dollars ($10,250) to enable the commanding general to emplo}" 
such additional clerks at division and department headquarters as he 

S. Doc. 190 2 



18 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

may deem necessary; the disbursing quartermaster, two thousand one 
hundred and eighty dollars and one cent (|2,180.01). 

For laborers, janitors, and washing towels, eleven hundred and 
seventy-six dollars and forty -five cents (11,176.45); for supplies for 
issue and miscellaneous expenses impossible to itemize, seventy-five 
thousand dollars ($75,000); for rents and repairs to buildings, two 
thousand two hundred and twenty dollars ($2,220); for transportation, 
three thousand dollars (|3,000). 

Total for the disbursing quartermaster of civil bureaus, one hundred 
and twent3^-six thousand six hundred and fifty-eight dollars and 
seventy-four cents ($126,658.74). _ 

For the chief surgeon for the division of the Philippines: 

For the purchase of medical supplies for sick and indigent natives 
in the Department of Mindanao and Jolo, six hundred and fifty-six 
dollars ($656). 

For the medical-suppl}^ depot of Manila: 

For laborers, nine hundred dollars ($900). 

For the medical -supply depot, Department of Northern Luzon: 

For the pay of fifty (50) vaccinators, at fifteen dollars ($15) per 
month, twenty-two hundred and fifty dollars ($2,250); for the pur- 
chase of medicines for use at military prisons at Bacolor, San Isidro, 
and Lingayen, five hundred dollars ($500); for the purchase of medi- 
cines for sick and indigent natives and for vaccination, five hundred 
dollars ($500). 

Total for the medical-supply depot. Department of Northern Luzon, 
three thousand two hundred and fifty dollars ($3,250). 

For the medical- supply depot. Department of Southern Luzon: 

For the pay of twenty (20) vaccinators, at fifteen dollars ($15) per 
month, nine hundred dollars ($900) ; for medical supplies for sick and 
indigent natives, six hundred dollars ($600). 

Total for the medical -supply depot, Department of Southern Luzon, 
fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500). 

For the pathological laborator}^ : 

For one laborer, fifteen dollars ($15). 

For the chief ordnance officer: 

For the erection of a shed for the storage of gun carriages, caissons 
and limbers, and for rents and repairs, four thousand and five hun- 
dred dollars ($4,500); for salaries, two thousand five hundred and 
forty-two dollars and ninety-five cents ($2,542.95); for printing, for 
office furniture, and for materials that may be required for repairs to 
buildings, roads, or other purposes in an emergency, thirteen hundred 
dollars ($1,300). 

Total for the chief ordnance officer, eight thousand three hundred 
and forty-two dollars and ninety -five cents ($8,342.95). 

For the chief signal officer: 

For purchases and services in connection with the construction and 
maintenance of telegraph, telephone, and cable lines in the Philippine 
Islands, fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000); for the hire of native labor 
for city and suburban construction and repair to telegraph and tele- 
phone lines and for care of central office, power house, and shops, for 
messengers, and for hire of native laborers employed in cable work, 
one thousand and twent}^ dollars ($1,020). 

Total for the chief signal officer, sixteen thousand and twenty dol- 
lars ($16,020). 



CHUECH LANDS TJST PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 19 

For the office of the provost-marshal-general and departments 
reporting to him: 

For the department of streets, parks, fire, and sanitation: 

For salaries and wages, twenty-eight thousand and sixty-nine dol- 
lars and fifty cents ($28,069.50); for the cleaning of Matadero and 
city markets and for removing night soil, twelve hundred and ninety 
dollars ($1,290); for the wages of crew of launch towing garbage and 
stone scows, three hundred and seventy-eight dollars and sevent^^-five 
cents ($378.75); for night labor on the Calle Rosario and Escolta, four 
hundred and fifty dollars ($450); for operating the rock quarry at 
Binangonan, sixteen hundred and twenty dollars ($1,620); for cleaning 
streets, collecting and disposing of garbage, etc., fourteen thousand 
two hundred and fiftj^-seven dollars and fifty cents ($11,257.50); for 
road material, for hire of carts, for forage, shoeing, etc., for the con- 
tinuation of the opening, cleaning, and repairing of drains and sewers, 
and for miscellaneous repairs and expenses, forty thousand three hun- 
dred and eighty-six dollars ($10,386); for the construction of the new 
Luneta, nine thousand dollars ($9,000); for the rent of land on which 
the Paco Crematory is located, forty-five dollars ($15); for additional 
laborers, hereby authorized, for street work and for operating rock 
quarry at Binangonan, for the purchase of handcarts and for salary of 
a chief clerk for the department of streets and parks, two thousand 
three hundred and twenty-five dollars ($2,325). 

Total for the department of streets, parks, fire, and sanitation, ninety- 
seven thousand eight hundred and twenty-one dollars and seventy -five 
cents ($97,821.75). 

For the department of water supply: 

For salaries and wages, five thousand three hundred and thirteen 
dollars ($5,313); for maintenance and supplies, six hundred dollars 
($600); for office expenses, seventy -five dollars ($75); for coal, seven 
thousand and five hundred dollars ($7,500). 

Total for the department of w^ater supply, thirteen thousand four 
hundred and eighty-eight dollars ($13,188). 

For the department of city public works: 

For salaries and wages, two thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven 
dollars and fifty cents ($2,767.50); for office expenses, seventy-five dol- 
lars ($75); for city bridges, fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500); for San- 
tolan road, four hundred and fifty dollars ($150); for instruments and 
drawing materials, one hundred and twenty -five dollars ($125); for 
Luneta seawall, one thousand dollars ($1,000); for map of Manila, 
three hundred dollars ($300); for Quinta market, forty-one thousand 
and two hundred dollars ($11,200); for maintenance of stock, seventy- 
five dollars ($75) ; for office transportation, five hundred and fifty 
dollars ($550). 

Total for the department of city public works, forty-eight thousand 
and forty-two dollars and fifty cents ($48,042.50). 

For the department of inspection: 

For salary of one physician to prisoners of war at Fort Santiago, 
one hundred and fifty dollars ($150); for subsistence and treatment of 
prisoners of war and others at the San Juan de Dios Hospital, six hun- 
dred dollars ($600); for subsistence and treatment of indigent and 
insane natives and Spaniards at Hospicio de San Jose, six thousand 
seven hundred and fifty dollars ($6,750). 

Total for the department of inspection, [seven thousand and five 
hundred dollars ($7,500). 



20 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Por the department of prisons: 

For subsistence of prisoners and lights at Presidio de Manila, four 
thousand and ninet}^ dollars (^4,090); for salaries of police officers and 
other emplo^^es, three thousand two hundred and sixty-two dollars 
and flft}^ cents ($3,262.50); for sundry office supplies and for rents and 
repairs, two hundred and forty dollars ($240). 

Total for the Presidio de Manila, seven thousand five hundred and 
ninet3^-two dollars and fifty cents ($7,592.50). 

For subsistence of prisoners and lights at the Carcel Publica, three 
thousand nine hundred and sixty-three dollars ($3,963); for salaries, 
one thousand and ninety -five dollars ($1,095); for office supplies and 
miscellaneous repairs, one hundred and eighty-six dollars ($186). 

Total for the Carcel Publica, five thousand two hundred and forty- 
four dollars ($5,2M). 

For Bilibid United States militar}^ prison, for repairs to buildings, 
transportation, oil, wire, and miscellaneous expenses, one hundred and 
four dollars ($101:). 

Total for the department of prisons, twelve thousand nine hundred 
and forty dollars and fifty cents ($12,940.50). 

For the department of licenses and municipal revenue: 

For salaries and wages, for stationery, printing, for transportation, 
and for incidental expenses, six thousand five hundred and twenty 
dollars and fifty cents ($6,520.50). 

For the department of cemeteries: 

For salaries and wages, rent of keeper's house, burial of paupers, 
materials, and for incidental expenses, nine hundred and thirteen dol- 
lars and fifty cents ($913.50). 

For the department of the board of health for the city of Manila: 

For salaries and wages of the department and office force, of munic- 
ipal physicians and midwives, of the San Lazaro hospital, of the San 
Lazaro leper hospital, of the vaccine station, of the veterinary depart- 
ment, of the plague hospital, of the steam disinfecting plant, of the 
inspector's department, of the bacteriological department, of the chemi- 
cal department, and of one physician at Malabon, ten thousand two 
hundred and seventy-nine dollars and fifty cents ($10,279.50); for 
transportation, one thousand and eighty dollars ($1,080); for medicines 
for municipal dispensary, seven hundred and fifty dollars ($750); for 
preparing vaccine virus, three hundred dollars ($300) ; for incidental 
expenses of the veterinary department, of the board of health, of the 
chemical department, of the bacteriological department, and of the 
antiplague virus farm, nine hundred and sixty dollars ($960); for run- 
ning expenses of the San Lazaro leper hospital, of the smallpox hos- 
pital, and of the plague hospital, two thousand three hundred and fifty 
dollars ($2,350); for fuel for the plague hospital and for the steam dis- 
infecting plant, five hundred dollars ($500) ; for printing, one hundred 
and fort3^-six dollars and twenty-five cents ($146.25). 

Total for the department of the board of health for the city of Manila, 
sixteen thousand three hundred and sixty-five dollars and seventy-five 
cents ($16,365.75). 

For the department of police: 

For salaries and wages of officers and privates of Manila police force, 
for interpreters and other employes, thirty-three thousand five hundred 
and two dollars and fifty cents ($33,502.50); for medical supplies, two 
hundred and twenty -five dollars ($225); for contingent fund, seventy - 
-five dollars ($75). 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 21 

Total for the department of police, thirty -three thousand eight hun- 
dred and two dollars and fifty cents ($33,802.50). 

For the department of illumination and telephones: 

For maintaining street and harbor lights, for maintaining lights in 
public buildings, general offices, residences, police stations, public 
markets, and in the Carcel de Bilibid, ten thousand seven hundred and 
thirt3^-five dollars and ninety -five cents ($10,735.95); for rent of tele- 
phones, for lights to be installed in Divisoria market and for additional 
lights in the Carcel de Bilibid, eight hundred and fifty-two dollars and 
seventy-five cents ($852.75); for material for repairs for existing 
insulations and for increase of service, seven hundred and six dollars 
($706). 

Total for the department of illuminations and telephones, twelve 
thousand two hundred and ninety -four dollars and seventv cents- 
($12,291.70). 

For the department of secret service: 

For salaries and wages, eighteen hundred dollars ($1,800); for trans- 
portation of agents and for miscellaneous expenses, five hundred and 
sixt3^-two dollars and fift}^ cents ($562.50). 

Total for the department of secret service, two thousand three hun- 
dred and sixty-two dollars and fifty cents ($2,362.50). 

For the office of the adjutant-general of the provost-marshal-gen- 
eral : 

For salaries, fifteen hundred and twenty-five dollars and eighty-four 
cents ($1,525.81); for fifty orphans, at six dollars and fifty cents ($6.50) 
per month each at the Santa Isabela College, nine hundred and seventy- 
five dollars ($975); for meals of political prisoners confined at the 
Anda street police station, seven hundred and forty-four dollars 
($711); for stationery, printing, and advertising and for contingent 
expenses, twent3^-five hundred dollars ($2,500). 

Total for the office of the adjutant-general of the provost-marshal- 
general, five thousand seven hundred and forty-four dollars and eighty- 
four cents ($5,711.81). 

For the department of cit}^ schools in Manila: 

For salaries and wages, nineteen thousand eight hundred and forty- 
two dollars and 12 cents ($19,812.12); for carromata hire, two hundred 
and twenty -five dollars, ($225); for books, stationery, and incidental 
expenses; for furniture and repairs; for oil and for rent of building 
for girls' school at Pasay, seventeen hundred and ten dollars ($1,710); 
for expenses in opening new municipal school in North Tondo, nine 
hundred and thirty dollars ($930); for expenses in opening new school 
at San Lazaro district, four hundred and twenty-four dollars and fifty 
cents ($121.50); for expenses in opening new school in Santa Mesa 
district, four hundred and twent^^-four dollars and fifty cents ($121.50); 
for expenses in opening new school in San Nicolas district, four hun- 
dred and twenty-four dollars and fifty cents ($121.50); for new night 
schools in Ermita and Tondo, twelve hundred and fifteen dollars 
($1,215); for additional salary in lieu of rent for certahi teachers neces- 
sary to be moved with their families from the school buildings, two 
hundred and seventy dollars ($270); for janitor for municipal schools^ 
one hundred and thirty-six dollars and fifty cents ($136.50). 

Total for the department of city schools in Manila, twenty -five 
thousand six hundred and two dollars and twelve cents ($25,602.12). 

For the quartermaster of the department of the provost guard: 

For rent of barracks for civil and military police, including the rent 



22 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

of three buildino-s in Malabon, seven thousand eight hundred and 
thirt3^-three dollars and iift}^ cents (17,833.50); for rent of school 
houses and for rent of the Manila Central Observatory, three thousand 
one hundred and seventy-three dollars ($3,173); for rent of Sampaloc 
market and of Arranque market, seventy -live dollars ($75); for expenses 
of the city morgue, two hundred and seventeen dollars and iift}^ cents 
($217.50); for miscellaneous rents, for operating Manila Central Observ- 
atory, for hire of transportation for officers of the cit}^ government, 
for forage and shoeing, and for incidental expenses, ten thousand three 
hundred and fort3^-nine dollars and nineteen cents ($10,319.19); for 
alteration and repairs to civil and military police stations and for rice 
for indigent citizens, ^ve thousand and eight hundred dollars ($5,800); 
for subsistence of militarj^ prisoners, three thousand dollars ($3,000). 

Total for the quartermaster of the department of the provost guard, 
thirt}^ thousand four hundred and forty-eight dollars and nineteen 
cents ($30,148.19). 

For the department of municipal records: 

For salaries of the judges of all branches of the supreme court, four 
thousand five hundred and sixt3"-two dollars and forty-six cents 
($4,562.16); for salaries of the attorney-general's department, three 
thousand nine hundred and nineteen dollars and eighty-six cents 
($3,919.86); for the employes in the civil and criminal branches, in 
the general offices, in the medico-legal department, three thousand 
four hundred and three dollars and fifty cents ($3,403.50); for the sal- 
aries of the judges, justices of the peace, bailiffs, and other employes 
of the district courts of first instance in Binondo, Tondo, Quiapo, and 
Intramuros, and of the courts of the justices of the peace of Binondo, 
Tondo, Quiapo, and Intramuros, six thousand nine hundred and five 
dollars and ninety-seven cents ($6,905.97); for salaries of the superior 
provost court, of the inferior provost court, of the department of the 
collector of taxes, of the department of municipal records, and of the 
department of prison records, two thousand and fifty-five dollars 
($2,055). 

Total for the department of municipal records, twent}^ thousand 
eight hundred and forty-six dollars and seventj-nine cents ($20,846.79). 

For the department of hospitals: 

For salaries and wages in the first reserve hospital, second reserve 
hospital, hospital number three, and Corregidor convalescent hospital, 
twelve hundred and fortj^-two dollars ($12,042). 

Total for the provost-marshal-general and departments reporting to 
him, three hundred and thirty -five thousand nine hundred and thirty- 
six dollars and fourteen cents ($335,936.14). 

For the general superintendent of education: 

For salaries of the general superintendent of education and employes 
of his department, including the salaries of two teachers in the pueblo 
of San Pedro Macati, at twenty dollars ($20) a month each, hereby 
authorized, two thousand nine hundred and seventy dollars ($2,970); 
for salaries and expenses of English teachers, ten thousand dollars 
($10,000); for salaries of district superintendents, five thousand dollars 
($5,000). 

Total for the general superintendent of education, seventeen thou- 
sand nine hundred and seventy dollars ($17,970). 

For the collector of customs of the islands and of the chief port: 

For regular supplies, eight thousand dollars ($8,000); for incidental 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 23 

expenses, four hundred and sixt3^-three dollars and sixty -two cents 
(1463.62); for rents and repairs to buildings, eleven hundred and ninet}^- 
six dollars andfifty cents ($1,196.50); for transportation, two thousand 
eight hundred and ten dollars and fift}^ cents ($2,810.50) ; for salaries and 
wages, including the salary of an additional emplo3^e in the secret serv- 
ice department, hereby authorized, at' one hundred dollars ($100) per 
month, forty thousand and forty-six dollars and iift}^ cents ($10,016.50); 
for miscellaneous expenses, twenty-one thousand nine hundred and 
sevent3^-eight dollars and thirtj-two cents ($21,978.32); for a refund 
of duties to the Colton Exporting and Importing Compan}^, hereby 
authorized, eight dollars and nine cents ($8.09). 

Total for the collector of customs of the islands and of the chief port, 
seventy-four thousand five hundred and three dollars and fiftj^-three 
cents ($74,503.53). 

For the collector of internal revenue of the islands: 

For regular supplies, two thousand seven hundred and fortj^-nine 
dollars and ninetj^-nine cents ($2,749.99); for salaries and wages, ten 
thousand three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and fifty-nine cents 
($10,329.59); for rents and repairs, nine hundred and twent}^ dollars 
and ninety-five cents ($920.95); for miscellaneous and incidental 
expenses, one hundred and eighty-three dollars and fifteen cents 
($183.15); for tax refunds, three dollars ($3); for transportation, one 
hundred and seventy-one dollars and ninety-six cents ($171.96); for 
expenses in the fourth district of the Yisavas, twelve hundred and 
fifteen dollars ($1,215). 

Total for the collector of internal revenue of the islands for the first 
quarter of the year 1901, fifteen thousand five hundred and sevent}^- 
three dollars and sixty -four cents ($15,573.64). 

For the payment of salaries and expenses for the months of Jul}^, 
October, November, and December, 1900, by way of deficiency, two 
hundred and ten dollars and fifty cents ($210.50); for transportation, 
rents and repairs, retax funds, and miscellaneous expenses for the same 
months, two hundred and eight3^-six dollars and fortv-one cents 
($286.41). 

Total for the deficiency appropriation for the collector of internal 
revenue for the islands, four hundred and ninetv-six dollars and ninety- 
one cents ($496.91). 

Grand total for the collector of internal revenue for the islands, 
sixteen thousand and sevent}^ dollars and fiftv-five cents ($16,070.55). 

For the auditor of the Philippine Islands: 

For salaries, six thousand eight hundred and sixty -two dollars and 
fifty cents ($6,862.50); for printing, three thousand dollars ($3,000). 

Total for the auditor of the Philippine Islands, nine thousand eight 
hundred and sixty -two dollars and fifty cents ($9,862.50). 

For the treasurer of the Philippine Islands: 

For salaries and wages, nine hundred and eighty dollars and one 
cent ($980.01). 

For the office of patents, cop^a-ights, and trade-marks: 

For salary of one clerk, two hundred and twenty-five dollars ($225). 

For the forestry bureau: 

For salaries and wages, eight thousand and thirteen dollars ($8,013); 
for travelling and incidental expenses, fifteen hundred and seventy-five 
dollars ($1,575); 



24 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Total for the forestry bureau, nine thousand five hundred and 
eighty-eight dollars ($9,588). 

For the bureau of mining: 

For salaries and wages, nine hundred and seven dollars and fifty cents 
($907.50); for the expenses of examination and inspection of mines 
and minerals in five districts, four hundred dollars ($400); for trans- 
portation, ninety dollars ($90); for binding, printing, and incidental 
expenses, fifty-four dollars ($54); 

Total for the bureau of mining, fourteen hundred and fifty-one dol- 
lars and fifty cents ($1,451.50). 

For the provost-marshal at Cavite: 

For medicines for sick prisoners confined at United States military 
prison at Cavite, forty -five dollars ($45); for transportation and inci- 
dental expenses, twent3^-four dollars ($24); for salaries of interpreter^ 
translator, clerk, and janitor, two hundred and sixty-two dollars and fifty 
cents ($262.50); for ten privates of the provost police, at twelve dollars 
per month each, three hundred and sixty dollars ($360); for a refund 
for the family of Teodoro Kamirez y Manalo, for clothing burned 
during the plague at Cavite, one hundred and fifty dollars ($150); 

Total for the provost-marshal at Cavite, eight hundred and forty- 
one dollars and fifty cents ($841.50). 

For the department of posts: 

For regular supplies, five hundred and sixty-nine dollars and fifty 
cents ($569.50); for incidental and miscellaneous expenses, fifteen 
hundred and five dollars ($1,505); for rents and repairs, two thousand 
three hundred and fifty-five dollars ($2,355); for transportation, seven 
thousand and six hundred dollars ($7,600); for salaries and wages, 
twenty-eight thousand and seventy dollars and fifty cents ($28,070.50); 

Total for the department of posts, forty thousand and one hundred 
dollars ($40,100). 

For the captain of the port at Manila: 

For regular supplies, one hundred and ninety-eight dollars and fifty 
cents ($198.50;; for salaries, fifteen thousand three hundred and forty- 
two dollars and seventy-four cents ($15,342.74); 

Total for the captain of the port at Manila, fifteen thousand five 
hundred and forty-one dollars and twenty-four cents ($15,541.24). 

For the chief paymaster. Department of Northern Luzon: 

For payment of squadron of Philippine cavalry, thirteen thousand 
dollars ($13,000). 

For Captain C. W. Mead, 36th Infantry, U. S. V.: 

To defray expenses of the location survey for the proposed railroad 
from Dagupan to Baguio, five thousand dollars ($5,000); to defray 
expenses of the office work on the survev of the same railroad during 
the month of December, 1900, six hundred dollars ($600); 

Total for Captain C. W. Mead, 36th Infantry, U. S. Y., five thou- 
sand and six hundred dollars ($5,600). 

For the disbursing officer. United States Philippine Commission: 

For salaries and wages and incidental expenses, forty-five thousand 
dollars ($45,000). 

Total of appropriations for all purposes in mone}^ of the United 
States, one million one hundred and ninety-two thousand three hun- 
dred and fifty-two dollars and sixty -six cents ($1,192,352.66). 

Sec. 3. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this 
appropriation bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in 



CHURCH LA^DS 11^ PHILIPPINE ISLAIS^DS. 25 

accordance with section 2 of ''An act prescribing the order of pro- 
cedure bv the commission in the enactment of laws," passed Septem- 
ber 26, 1900. 

Sec. 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. 

Enacted, December 31, 1900. 



United States Philippine Commission, 

Secretaky's Office, 
Jlanila, January 10, 1901. 
I hereby certify that the annexed is a correct copy of an act passed 
b}' the United States Philippine Commission on the 2nd da}^ of January, 
1901, taken from the original on file in this office. 

[seal.] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 

[No. m.'] 

AN ACT amending the second paragraph of Order No. 38 of general orders of the 
mihtary governor, issued ]Mareh 24, 1900, providing for Hcensing small boats which 
have a less capacity than fifteen gross tons burden. 

By authority of the President of the United States, he it enacted hy 
the United States Philippine Cornniisdon^ that: 

Section 1. The second paragraph of Order No. 38 of General Orders 
of the militaiT governor, issued March 21:, 1900, is hereby amended to 
read as follows: 

Hereafter any owner of a small boat which has a less capacit\^ than 
fifteen (15) gross tons burden, who ma} wish to cany on a local trade 
in an}^ of the equipped ports and near coast points, upon application 
at the nearest equipped port, and on taking the oath of allegiance to 
the United States Government, shall be granted a license to run for 
one year, permitting his vessel to engage in legitimate seacoast traffic 
between the port where application is made and the near or adjacent 
seacoast towns and villages, the owner paying for the same one peso 
per ton for each ton of the vessel's gross tonnage, the payment to be 
made in cash. The minimum payment shall be one peso. 

Sec. 2. This act shall take efiect on its passage. 

Enacted January 2, 1901. 

United States Philippine Commission, 

Secretary's Office, 

Manila, January 10, 1901. 
I hereby certify that the annexed is a correct copy of an act passed 
by the United States Philippine Commission on the 2d da}^ of January, 
1901, taken from the original on file in this office. 

[seal] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 

[No. 67.] 

AN ACT making effective the certificates of registration, issued under General Order 
No. 58 of the military governor, dated November 16, 1899, during the year 1901, 
or until further legislation on this subject. 

By authority of the President of the United States, he it enacted hy 
the Ignited States Philij^pine Commission., that: 

Section 1. All certificates of registration issued for the year 1900, 
under authority of General Order No. 58 of the military governor^ 



26 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

dated November 16, 1899, shall continue effective for the year 1901 or 
until such time as further legislation on the suljject is enacted. 

Sec. 2. Persons who have not taken out certificates of registration 
under the above order b}" January 1st, 1901, shall take out the same, 
but such shall have the same effect and legality only as that given by 
section 1 to certificates lawfully issued during the year 1900. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Enacted Januar}^ 2, 1901. 



United States Philippine Commission, 

Secketary's Office, 
Manila, January 10^ 1901. 

I hereb}^ certify that the annexed is a correct cop}^ of an act passed 
by the United States Philippine Commission on the 2d da}" of January, 
1901, taken from the original on file in this ofiice. 

[seal.] a. W. Fergusson, Secretary. 

[No. 68.] 

AN ACT supplementary to act number sixty-one authorizing the construction of a 

highway from Pozorubio to Baguio. 

By authority of the President of the United States, he it enacted hy 
the United States Philipiyine Commission, that: 

Section 1. The army ofiicer detailed by the militar}^ governor to 
supervise the construction of the highway from Pozorubio, in the prov- 
ince of Pangasinan, to Baguio, in the province of Benguet, is hereby 
given authority to act as disbursing officer of the funds to be expended 
by authorit}^ of act number sixty-one, and is required to submit his 
accounts as such to the auditor for the islands. 

Sec. 2. The public good requiring the speedv enactment of this 
bill, the passage of the same is hereby expedited in accordance with 
section 2 of ''An act prescribing the order of procedure b}^ the Com- 
mission in the enactment of laws," passed September 26, 1900. 

Sec. 3. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Enacted January 2, 1901. 



before the united states PHILIPPINE COMMISSION. 

T. H. Pardo de Tavera and others, for themselves and other inhabit- 
ants of the Philippine Islands, against the rector of the University 
of St. Thomas, a Dominican monk, and the Holv Roman Apostolic 
Catholic Church, represented by the most reverend the archbishop 
of Manila, and the most reverend the archbishop of New Orleans, 
apostolic delegate. 

(Conclusions announced b}^ the commission.) 
In the instructions given by the President of the United States to 

the Secretary of War for the g-uidance of the United States Philippine 

Commission was the following direction: 

It will be the duty of the commission to make a thorough investigation into the 
titles of the large tracts of land held or claimed by individuals or by religious orders; 
into the justice of the claims and complaints made against such landholders by the 



CHITECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 27 

people of the island, or any part of the people, and to seek by wise and peaceable 
measures a just settlement of the controversies and redress of the wrongs which 
have caused strife and bloodshed in the past. In the performance of this duty the 
commission is enjoined to see that no injustice is done; to have regard for substantial 
right and equity, disregarding technicalities as far as substantial right permits, and 
to observe the following rules: 

That the provision of the Treaty of Paris, pledging the United States to the pro- 
tection of all rights of property in the islands, and as well the principle of our own 
Government, which prohibits the taking of private property without due process of 
law, shall not be violated; that the welfare of the people of the islands, which should 
be a paramount consideration, shall be attained consistently with this rule of property 
right; that if it becomes necessary for the public interest of the people of the island 
to dispose of claims to property, which the commission finds to be not lawfully 
acquired and held, disposition shall be made thereof by due legal procedure, in which 
there shall be full opportunity for fair and impartial hearing and judgment; that if 
the same public interests require the extinguishment of property rights lawfullj^ 
acquired and held, due compensation shall be made out of the public treasury there- 
for; that no form of religion and no minister of religion shall be forced upon any com- 
munity or upon any citizen of the island; that upon the other hand no minister of 
religion shall be interfered with or molested in following his calling; and that the 
separation between State and church shall be real, entire, and absolute. 

Soon after the commission reached Manila, it was consulted by Gen- 
eral MacAithur, the military governor, as to the proper course for 
him to take on the petition of the rector of the University of St. 
Thomas, asking him to revoke an order made b}^ his predecessor, 
General Otis, in 1899, which forbade the rector of the University of 
St. Thomas to continue to maintain a school of medicine and pharmacy" 
in the buildings of the College of San Jose, and to use its name and 
income for that purpose. The order of General Otis had been made 
at the instance of the president and directors of the Philippine Medical 
Association, who claimed that the foundation of the College of San 
Jose had been completeh^ under the control and administration of the 
Spanish Government as a public institution, and passed b}^ virtue of 
the Treaty of Paris to the United States Government, and that though 
the Spanish Government had permitted the college to be administered 
for it by the Dominican order, the United States Government, in which 
there is a complete separation of church and State, should maintain 
the administration of a school, with purposes so entireh^ secular as 
that of the teaching of medicine, free from sectarian and monastic 
influences. General Otis's order did not take away from the control of 
the rector of the university the propert}^ of the College of San Jose, 
but mereh^ forbade the opening of the college as a school of medicine 
and pharmacy. The property of the foundation, therefore, is still in 
the possession and under the control of the rector of the University of 
St. Thomas, except that he is prevented by the terms of the order from 
opening a college of medicine and pharmacy therein. 

The corporation of the College of San Jose owns two large hacien-^ 
das. The issue here presented involves the question of the control of 
that property. Under the instructions of the President, the commis- 
sion deemed it its duty to investigate the issue involved and to bring 
it to a legal settlement. It so advised the military governor and sug- 
gested that he delay action upon the petition of the rector of the Uni- 
versity of St. Thomas until the investigation could be had. and that 
meantime the college might be opened under the joint control of rep- 
resentatives to be appointed by each party. Joint control was unsat- 
isfactory to both parties, and the military governor therefore decided 
not to change the status quo under the order of General Otis until the 
commission should conclude its hearing and express to him its view of 



28 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

the proper action to be taken on the petition of the rector of the 
universit}^ The hearing of the case was begun in July and continued 
from time to time until October. Dr. T. H. Pardo de tavera appeared 
as the party complainant, representing the Philippine Medical Asso- 
ciation and those of the Philippine people interested in secularizing 
the control of the College of San Jose. The Most Rev. Fr. Bernar- 
dino Nozaleda de Villa, archbishop of Manila, and the Most Rev. P. L. 
Chapelle, archbishop of New Orleans and apostolic delegate, appeared 
in behalf of the Holy Apostolic Roman Catholic Church, and asked 
that it be substituted as a part}^ to the issue instead of the rec^tor of the 
University of St. Thomas, on the ground that the rector only repre- 
sented the church in his control of the college. The archbishops were 
permitted to appear in this representative capacity and to defend 
against the prayer of complainants. 

The pressing engagements of the commission in other matters pre- 
vented a speedier hearing, and have delayed the announcement of its 
conclusions until now. 
- The questions in the case are these: 

Did the Government of the United States, as claimed by the com- 
plainants, acquire by the treaty of Paris the right and power to pro- 
vide for the control and management of the foundation and properties 
of the College of San Jose, as an institution under the secular and 
civil control of Spain in the Philippine Islands, so that the United 
States should now by law give to the college a directory, nonsectarian 
in character, to maintain and conduct it as a school of medicine and 
pharmacy ? Or — as claimed on behalf of the Catholic Church — have 
the foundation and properties of the College of San Jose, under the 
canonical law and the civil law of Spain, always been subject to the 
ultimate control of the Church for sectarian charitable purposes — a 
control exercised by the King of Spain only by virtue of a concordat 
between him and the Pope, as head of the Catholic Church. 

It is indispensable to a proper discussion of these questions that the 
history of the College of San Jose, as shown by the evidence and docu- 
ments before us, should be stated. It was agreed between the parties 
that, for the convenience of themselves and the commission, a statement 
of the facts, made by Lieutenant-Colonel Crowder, military secretary, 
in a report concerning the status of the college, to the military gov- 
ernor, should be taken as accurate, but that it might be supplemented 
by additional documents and evidence to be produced by either party. 
Additional documents have been produced by the parties and we do 
not understand that the authenticity of any of the documents adduced 
on either side has been denied. With the record of the case thus 
fixed, we proceed now to state, as succinctly as may be, the history of 
the College of San Jose. 

On the 8th of June, 1585, the King of Spain, upon information that 
the Fathers of the Society of Jesus had done much good work in teach- 
ing in the islands, and that their retention and increase Avas desirable, 
and that they should be assisted by the establishment of a college, 
commanded the governor and the bishop of the islands to report to 
him how the college could be instituted and the necessities of the 
Jesuit Fathers provided for. In 1601, on the 25th day of August, the 
provisor and vicar-general of the archbishopric of Manila, upon the 
application of the Jesuit Father, Louis Gomez, granted permission to 
the petitioner and his order to found and establish the College of San 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 31 

should upon principles of law revert to the status fixed by its founda- 
tion. On March 21, 1771, the King* acted on the representation of the 
audiencia and the protest of the archbishop. He disapproved the 
seizure and despoliation of the properties of the San Jose College by 
the governor, but he also disapproved the conversion of the college 
into a seminary, made subsequently in common accord by the arch- 
bishop and governor. In the rescript of the King upon the issue thus 
presented, he held that the action of the governor was entirely con- 
trar}^ to what was ordered in the instructions for the expulsion of the 
Jesuit priests, and against the right which those who were in the 
college at the time, and those who should succeed them in the future, 
had legitimately acquired to maintain themselves there; that the new 
order of things in regard to the want of teachers could not serve as 
an excuse, since priests would not be lacking to be substituted for the 
present, and in time the}^ would become suitable persons for sustain- 
ing this laudable foundation; that the spoliation had been a cause of 
the most serious damage and pernicious consequence, as it was shown 
that the said college was founded with a view to instructing the sons 
of leading Spanish subjects of that city in grammar, philosoph}", and 
theology; that twenty scholarships were created in it for that many 
more collegians; that their instruction was undertaken and the direc- 
tion was intrusted to the expelled priests of the society; that the 
father of the then King had been pleased to receive it under his 
sovereign protection on May 3, 1722, and to decorate it with the title 
of royal ad honorem, provided it should have no other patrons, and 
upon the express condition that it never would or could produce a 
burden or charge of any kind on the ro5"al treasmy, and that the said 
Order of the Society of Jesus had no interest in it except the said 
direction and government; that under the orders of 1769 and 1770, 
regarding the seizure of the temporalities of the Jesuits, it was 
decreed ''that no change should be made in the colleges, or the secular 
houses, whose direction and the instruction therein were in their 
charge; that the governor and the archbishop had exceeded their 
authority in erecting a new collegiate seminary in the College of San 
Jose," and as the College of San Jose had nothing in common with the 
expelled priests through their only having had its administration and 
direction, and this having ended with the expulsion, the said governor 
ought to have appointed an ecclesiast of good standing as rector and 
administrator from those who had been students in the same college, as 
being already instructed in its management, with these instructions, 
to give an account every j^ear without permitting the archbishop to 
meddle in anything pertaining to the college, ''as it is under my royal 
protection and therefore totally independent of the ecclesiastical 
ordinary, as are the other obras pias spoken of by the trindentine." 

The King accordingly ordered that all things be placed in the col- 
lege in the same state and condition in which they were before the 
change took place. 

At the commencement of the year 1777 the governor appointed as 
rector and administrator of the College Don Ignacio de Salazar, Canon- 
ical of the Metropolitan Cathedral, who in that year took charge of 
the property of the College of San Jose, and from that time down to 
1879, the position of rector-administrator of the College of San Jose 
was always intrusted by appointment of the governor-general to an 
ecclesiastic of the Cathedral with the duty of reporting the accounts 



32 CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

of his administration eveiy three years. The management of the col- 
lege was not successful and the administration of its properties was neg- 
ligent, and possibly in some of its years corrupt. The field of secondary 
education which it had attempted to fill came to be occupied by newer 
and more successful institutions, such as the Municipal Atheneum and 
the College of San Juan de Letran. 

Between the years 1860 and 1870, the question of the conversion of 
the College of St. Joseph into a professional school of some character, 
of arts, agriculture, or medicine, was much discussed, particularly its 
conversion into a school of medicine and pharmac3^ Finall}' in 1867 a 
board consisting of the rectors of the university, Municipal Atheneum, 
and College of St. Joseph, and one representative each of the profes- 
sions of medicine and pharmacy, was convened by royal order and 
charged with the duty of ascertaining the origin and object of St. 
Joseph's College, its revenues and pious charges, and the best manner 
of installing therein classes of medicine and pharmac}^ Its condensed 
finding is thus reported: 

Result: That there only appears the strict obhgation of supporting three scholar- 
ships with the estate of Tunasan, and one more when the "Mesa de Misericordia " 
(Table of Mercy) may guarantee its expenses. As to the studies nothing is said of 
what kind of faculty they shall be — it is only set forth that sons of well-born Spaniards 
shall be educated in virtue and letters. 

Morales de Setien, rector-administrator in 1869, in submitting his 
report of that year, reaches the same conclusion. He refers to the 
fact that at that time Manila was provided with five colleges dedicated 
to secondar}^ instruction, and points to the great advantages which 
would result if one of these colleges could be devoted to teaching 
something more adapted to the conditions of the country and the wants 
of its inhabitants. The rector of the Universit}^ of St. Thomas also 
expressed the opinion that the diversion of the greater part of the 
college's funds to the maintenance of classes of medicine and pharmacy 
was within the provisions of that clause of the will of the founder, 
declaring that "if the said funds, after paying the board of said boys 
and the clothing of those who are poor, should show a surplus, the 
said patron may dispose of the same as he thinks right for said college 
or the company, or in other pious works, as he may deem best, without 
being called to account at any time for any cause or reason whatever." 

In short, it was argued that the specific intention of the founder had 
failed and that his general intention in favor of educational charity 
should be effectuated by the government through a cypres application 
of the funds, or as the canonical phrase is by commutation. 

In 1870 the Spanish Government adopted the famous decrees con- 
cerning education in the Philippine Islands known as the Mo ret Decrees, 
by which it was attempted to secularize most of the institutions of 
learning. Among other provisions in these decrees, was one directing 
that the College of San Jose, the College of San Juan de Letran, the 
Ateneo Municipal should be united in one academy for secondary and 
entirely secular education, to be known as the Philippine Institute, to 
be subject to the ultimate control of a superior board of education, 
which was civil and secular in its character. These decrees were never 
enforced. They were successfully resisted by those in control of the 
College of San Jose and the others as an arbitrary and unjust despo- 
liation. 



CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 33 

In 1875, upon the accession to the throne of King Alfonso, new 
decrees were made by which the Universitj^ of St. Thomas was reor- 
ganized, though the control of it by the Dominican Order was not 
disturbed, and the College of San Jose was in a sense incorporated 
into the university. The history of this is found in Colonel Crowder's 
report as follows: 

The incorporation of the College of St. Joseph into the university and the applica- 
tion of its revenue to the maintenance of the university classes of medicine and phar- 
macy were accomplished by articles 2 and 12 of this decree of 1875, the former 
prescribing that ' ' in this university shall be given the necessary studies for the fol- 
lowing professions: Jurisprudence, canons, medicine, pharmacy, and notary," and 
the latter that "the branches of medicine and pharmacy, although constituting an 
integral part of the university, will be taught in the College of St. Joseph, whose 
revenues, with the deductions of the amounts for pious charges, will be devoted to 
the expenses of these branches. The five-sixths part of the fees from the registra- 
tion of these subjects and half of the fees for degrees, titles, and certificates of the 
alumni will also pertain to the college mentioned. The rest will be applied to the 
general expenses of the university." 

These articles conferred a positive benefit and were immediately enforced. Other 
articles, the effect of which was to impair, to a degree, at least, the Dominican 
autonomy, were accorded a very different reception, and to these attention will now 
be invited. The first and most important of these latter articles is article 14, which 
reads as follows: 

"The vice-royal patron, upon the recoriimendation of the rector, shall name a 
director for the College of St. Joseph, confiding to him also the administration of its 
revenues. In lieu of this functionary the senior professor of the branch of medicine 
will perform the duties of director-administrator." 

The rector's first action under this article was the recommendation of Dr. Manuel 
Clemente, director-administrator of the college, who was appointed by the governor- 
general. But in 1876-77 there resulted a large deficit in the revenues of the college, 
and a royal order, dated June 5, 1877, was issued by the minister of colonies recom- 
mending a more careful management of the college funds. 

When the governor-general received said royal order he convened a commission, 
and charged it with studying and making recommendations as to the proper way of 
maintaining the faculties of medicine and pharmacy with the funds of the college 
alone if possible. This commission condemned the administration of Clemente as 
unfit and abandoned, and in its report of September 5, 1877, recommended that the 
rectorage of the university should immediately take charge of the estates, valuables, 
and all properties and documents of St. Joseph's College; and that regulations for 
the management of the same be extended. As a result, the governor-general, on 
September 28, 1877, decreed that an administrative commission, composed of the 
rector of the university and the professor of pharmacy, Fernando Benitez, should 
take charge of the college, conferring upon them the powers necessary to carry out 
the complete reorganization of St. Joseph's College, such as was provided in the royal 
order of 1875. This commission commenced its work in October, 1877, and on July 
26, 1878, submitted its report, in which it recommended that the office of director- 
administrator should be made two separate offices, the office of director to be filled 
by the rector of the university, to be rated ex officio director of St. Joseph's, and 
that of administrator to be filled by the governor-general upon the recommendation 
of the rector oi the university of three names to be taken from the professors of 
medicine and pharmacy. This report was approved by the governor-general in his 
decree of August 1, 1878, in which he directed that the immediate direction and gov- 
ernment of the college should be hereafter under the charge of the rector of the uni- 
versity, and that the administration of said college should continue in the hands of 
Don Fernando Benitez, professor of pharmacy. This decree of the governor-general 
was subsequently approved by royal order of March 24, 1880, with the modification 
that Benitez, in his post of administrator, should be removable, and that his suc- 
cessors should be named by the governor-general upon the recommendation of the 
rector of the university of three names, the appointee being always a professor of one 
of the branches of medicine or pharmacy. By the governor-general's decree of 
August 1, 1878, the rector was charged with preparing regulations concerning the 
control and management of the college. It appears that such regulations were issued 
by the governor-general on October 15, 1879; that title 2 of said regulations gives to 
the rector of the university, as ex officio director, the control of the properties and 
finances of the college. 

S. Doc. 190 3 



34 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

It has thus happened that article 14 of the decree of 1875, which, although it did 
not direct, certainly permitted the control and management of St. Joseph's College 
to be given into the hands of a layman, has been in effect abrogated by subsequent 
orders of the governor-general, approved at Madrid, which place the management 
and control of the finances in the rector of the university. 

Articles 6 to 10 of the decree of 1875 have shared a similar fate. There has never 
been a competitive examination held either here or at Madrid for vacant professor- 
ships, and these have been filled by the governor-general upon the recommendation 
of the rector. Regulations to carry the decree of 1875 into effect, which were to have 
been published and remitted to the minister of foreign colonies with all urgency, 
have not yet been published, although the rector claims that a draft of such regula- 
tions was prepared and forwarded in 1876, and a second draft in 1890. * * ^ 

The administration of the college properties is separate from that of the university 
properties. Two accounts are kept, each with its own funds and distinct adminis- 
tration, but both under the same direction, to wit, that of the rector of the university. 
* ^ ^ On the whole it seems that the effects of the decree of 1875 upon St. Joseph's 
College were radical in the extreme when we consider the independence it enjoyed 
in its earlier history. Its scholarships, which prior to 1870 had been maintained at 
twenty, were shortly after this decree went into effect reduced to three and trans- 
ferred to another institution. The instruction formerly given within its walls in 
"virtue and letters," in accordance with alleged requirements of its foundation, gave 
way, under that decree, to professional education in medicine and pharmacy. Its 
revenues, deducting the insignificant portion necessary to maintain three scholar- 
ships and a few other pious charges, were devoted to the maintenance of the faculties 
of medicine and pharmacy. But the administration of the college properties was 
kept distinct; the separate autonomy in this regard remains unimpaired. 

The income from the property in normal times seems to be about 
120,000 gold and to indicate a foundation of about $500,000 gold. 

ARGUMENTS. 

In the opening arguments for the complainant the ground was taken, 
based on the history of the college as recited by one ecclesiastical 
writer, that the college was founded by the royal decree of 1585 and 
that f 1,000 a year was devoted from the royal treasury to its support, 
that the gift of Figueroa was merely in support of the royal founda- 
tion, and that contributions were made by the government of the 
islands from time to time to aid the college as a royal college. It was 
said that such a college was wholly free from ecclesiastical control if 
the King desired to make it so and that he had shown his desire to do 
so in the establishment of it as a secular college of medicine and 
pharmacy without any instruction in morals or religion. 

The contention on behalf of the complainant that the college was 
originally of royal foundation by grant of 1,000 pesos annually was 
denied by the prelates appearing for the Church, and in the reply of 
the complainant's counsel the commission understood this contention 
not to be insisted on. We come, therefore, to the argument for the 
Church, because the issues really presented for decision are more 
sharply drawn by the argument for the Church and the reply of counsel 
for the complainant. 

The argument on behalf of the Church begins with the premise that 
all ecclesiastical pious works as defined by canonical writers and laws 
are subject to the ultimate control of the Church, that the method of 
administering such works was fixed by the decrees of the Council of 
Trent, and that by decree of Philip II the canonical law formu- 
lated and declared by this great church council has always been 
recognized as binding in the Kingdom of Spain, that under such decrees 
there were two ways in which pious ecclesiastical works were admin- 
istered by the Church, one through the control of visitatorial power 



CHURCH LAJSTDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 35 

of the ordinaiy or bishop of the Church and the other through the 
King; that pious works administered through the King were not sub- 
ject to the control or visits of the bishop except b}" license of the King, 
but that in controlling such works the King was acting mereh^ as the 
delegated agent or trustee of the Church. In support of the claim that 
the foundation of the College of San Jose was a pious ecclesiastical 
work within the operation of the decrees of the Council of Trent, ref- 
erences are made to the definitions of such works by writers on the 
canon law in describing the propert}^ devoted to them as a class of 
church patrimon}^ The authors cited describe as church patrimony- 
all property destined to succor the poor and needy, including in its 
categor}" hospitals, asylums, colleges for the education and training of 
Christians, religious confraternities, and in general institutions and 
foundations to works of charity and religion, and say that two things 
are necessary and sufficient in order that the institutions and founda- 
tions be ecclesiastical and that their properties pertain to the church; 
that is to sa}^, that the}" are by full force of right pious ecclesiastical 
works: First, that they be founded with the license and authority of 
the diocesan bishop, and second, that the foundations of the said insti- 
tutions have been made through motiv^es of charity or religion, or 
what is equivalent, that the}^ have been made with the idea of promot- 
ing holy religion and providing for some moral and material necessity 
of the founder's fellow-creatures within the church. The argument 
distinguishes such foundations from those which in modern states are 
not ecclesiastical institutions because their founders were not influenced 
in their action by motives of religion or Christian charit}^ nor did 
they found them in the exercise of Christian charity, but simply 
through sentiments of philanthropy and as acts of social benefi- 
cence, with the unmistakable absence of all christian influence or 
intention. Attention is called to the bull of Pope Alexander VI in 
1501, by which the titles and first fruits of the Indies, with the duty 
of propagating the faith and endowing the churches and appointing 
ecclesiastical ministers therein and fulh^ to maintain them, were 
granted to the Kings of Spain; and to that of Pope Julius in 1508, by 
which the universal patronage, to wit, that of nominating proper per- 
sons for churches, cathedrals, monasteries, dignities, colleges, and 
other ecclesiastical benefices and pious places, was granted to the King 
of Spain; and to the concordat of 1851 between the Pope and King of 
Spain, bv which it was agreed that the church should have the right 
of acquisition by any legitimate title whatever, and its proprietorship 
in all that it possesses in the present or should acquire in the future 
should be respected, and that no suppression or fusion should take 
place without the intervention of the authority of the Holy See; and 
to the covenant of 1860 between the same parties, b}^ which the Span- 
ish Government recognized anew, in a formal manner, the full and 
free right of the church to acquire, hold, and enjoy the usufruct in 
ownership without limitation or reserve of all kinds of property or 
values, and consequently annulled by this covenant whatever previous 
covenant might be contrary to it, stipulating that the propertv which 
in virtue of this right should be acquired and possessed in future by 
the church should not be counted in the endowment which had been 
previoush" assigned to it by the concordat. 

Upon these premises the argument on behalf of the church proceeds 
to point out that the foundation of Figueroa fulfilled one of the two 



36 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

requirements of a pious ecclesiastical work, in that it was a gift by a 
professing- Catholic for the education of Catholics under the adminis- 
tration of a Catholic order, which could do nothing except with per- 
mission of the head of the church, in letters and morals — morals 
which it is conceded by counsel for complainants were Catholic morals — 
and therefore that the foundation was made through motives of char- 
it}" and religion, to promote holy religion and provide some moral 
need to the founder's fellow-creatures within the church; that the 
founder's intention to make his gift a pious ecclesiastical work could 
be clearl}" seen in the will itself, in which he authorizes the patron to 
devote a surplus of funds to any other pious works, thereby emphat- 
ically impljdng that he regarded the main foundation as pious work. 
Reference is also made to the construction placed upon the purpose of 
the founder in the royal licenses to permit the transmission of funds 
of the trust from Mexico to the Philippines, and in the decree taking" 
the college under royal protection, by which the foundation is said to 
be for education of the youth of Manila, in theology among other 
things, and the preparation of 3^oung men as ministers of the holy 
religion. It is then contended that the other requirement of the defi- 
nition of a pious ecclesiastical work, to wit, that it be founded with 
the license and authority of the diocesan bishop when fulfilled as to 
the college of San Jose, because, before the Jesuits founded their col- 
lege in 1601, they obtained a license from the representative of the arch- 
bishop of Manila to do so, and in 1610, after the college had become 
the foundation of Figueroa under his will, the permission originally 
given in 1601 was confirmed to administer the college under that 
foundation, and permission was given to say masses in the school. 

The right of the King to take the college under his protection in 1722, 
and to provide an administrator for the college in 1768, is attributed to 
the argument for the church to the control given to the King of Spain 
over church property and tithes and first fruits by the bull of Pope 
Alexander VI in 1501, and to the still wider power of universal pat- 
ronage given the same monarch by the bull of Pope Julius II in 1508, 
and it is said that the King was merely acting as the pope-appointed 
royal patron of the college in providing administration for the college 
after the private patron became incapable under the pragmatic sanction, 
and that the King recognized the ecclesiastical character of the foun- 
dation in selecting a priest as administrator. 

The argument that the Crown of Spain asserted an absolute right to 
control the purpose of the college free from the church by the decrees 
of 1870 and 1875 is met by the contention that the decree of 1870 was 
never enforced, and that of 1875 was only executed so far as to make 
the college a part of the sectarian and church-managed universit}^ of 
Saint Thomas, in which the Catholic religion was taught and the Domin- 
ican rector administered both trusts for the same purpose, to wit, the 
conduct of a university under the Catholic Church, and that the diver- 
sion of the funds of the College of San Jose to the various chairs of 
medicine and pharmacy embraced in such a university is quite in accord 
with the religious motives of the founder expressed in that clause of 
his will, in which he authorized his patron, when the original purpose 
failed or was satisfied, to expend the income in other pious works; but 
that to use the funds for a medical school under civil and secular con- 
trol, completely divorced from the church and association with a Cath- 
olic university would be a complete departure from the terms of the 
will and a violation of the intentions of the testator. 



CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 37 

Another argument made on behalf of the church rests upon the obli- 
gation of the Government of the United States to observe as sacred 
contract rights created and secured by the granting and acceptance of 
a charter of the sovereign. It is said that the College of San Jose, by 
what was done, was created and became a body corporate, and that the 
instruments which made up the charter for its existence, including the 
will and its recognition by royal decree and license, prescribed a clear 
and well-defined government for the college by the head of a religious 
order, and that an}^ attempt to take the college out of ecclesiastical 
control would be a breach of the contract rights acquired by those for 
whose benefit the trust was to be administered from the civil sovereign, 
whose obligations in this regard passed to the United States. Much 
reliance was put on the decision by the Supreme Court of the United 
States in the well-known case of Woodward v. Dartmouth College, in 
which it was held not to be competent for the legislature of New Hamp- 
shire to change b}" legislative act the mode of choosing the trustees of 
Dartmouth College and their number, as prescribed in a royal charter 
of the King of England granted before the separation of the United 
States from the mother country, because the accepted charter was a 
contract which it was forbidden by the Constitution of the United States 
to a State to impair by legislative act. 

The argument for the complainant in reply, assuming, as contended 
for the church, that the real beginning of the College of San Jose as 
a corporate entity and a work of charity began with the vesting of the 
gift under the will of Figueroa, and that the events occurring between 
1601 and 1608 did not change or afi'ect the light in which the college 
should be viewed, and accepting for the sake of the argument the defi- 
nition of a pious ecclesiastical work given in the argument for the 
church, was that the foundation of Figueroa fell short of both require- 
ments stated, in that it was a mere act of philanthropy and secular 
charity and was not intended to be a provision for the aid of the 
Holy Catholic religion or to be under the control of the church as 
an ecclesiastical pious work; that the delegation of the power of con- 
trol and patronage to the head of the Order of Jesus was a mere 
description of the person of the administrator, and was not intended 
to put the control of the institution under its patron as a subordi- 
nate of the Holy See; that this was most manifest from the express 
declaration of the testator that no ecclesiastical authority should inter- 
fere in the management of the college and its properties, and that 
the words "other pious works," used in the will, could not, in view 
of this express exclusion of ecclesiastical authority from ultimate con- 
trol, be construed to mean ecclesiastical pious works. The argu- 
ment, as continued, was that Figueroa's foundation failed also 
to fulfill the second requirement of an ecclesiastical pious work, in 
that it was not licensed by the diocesan authority as such. It was 
said that license of the vicar-general of the diocese of 1601 was merely 
personal permission to the provincial of the Jesuits as a priest to con- 
duct a college and to celebrate masses, and was not a license of an 
ecclesiastical pious work, for, as conceded in the argument for the 
church, the college of the Jesuits in 1601 was not an ecclesiastical 
pious work, for it lacked the substance of a foundation and the per- 
manence involved in the obligation to continue the college forever. 
After the foundation by Figueroa it was argued there was no diocesan 
license or authority for the foundation, that the confirmation of the 
license of 1601 by a diocesan order of 1610 was a mere repetition of 



38 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

the personal license of 1601 to the provincial of the order to do that 
which without the permission of the bishop he could not as a member 
of his order do. The contention further w^as that as this was a mere 
private charity for public benefit, the application to the King of Spain 
for his protection and for the right to be known as a royal college put 
it under the control of that monarch in the exercise of his royal pre- 
I'ogative as a sovereign, subject only to the exercise by the provincial 
of the Order of Jesus of his power as patron, and free from any inter- 
ference by the Church of Rome. The expulsion of the Jesuits, it 
is said, deprived the trust of the trustee appointed in the will and 
placed the burden of providing a trustee upon the sovereignty, who 
had become the protector of the college and who was by general law 
the parens patriae and authorized to provide trustees for trusts of this 
character where the person named in the deed or instrument of foun- 
dation to execute the trust had become incapable of continuing to exe- 
cute it. Continuing the argument, it was said that the rescript of the 
King in which he censured the archbishop of Manila and the governor 
of the islands for despoiling the properties of the College of San Jose 
and directed that it be returned to its former status under the will of 
Figueroa, the administrator to be appointed by the governor, was an 
assertion by the King of Spain carried into execution of his right in the 
exercise of his royal prerogative to control the management of the col- 
lege independently of the archbishop or of the Catholic Church. It 
was said that the direction to the governor to appoint some ecclesi- 
astic to control the college was not an admission b}^ the King of his 
obligation to appoint a religious person to the control of the college, 
but only a conformit}?^ to the custom then universal of committing 
educational institutions to the control of members of the clerical pro- 
fession, who were almost the only persons then capable of teaching, 
and that there is in the rescript itself an assertion of the right of the 
King to appoint a secular person, should such a person be suitable. 
This argument is enforced by reference to the action of the King in 
the decree of 1875, by which it was held, apparently with the consent 
of the ecclesiastical persons who were therein concerned, that the 
King had authority, by Royal order, in view of the fact that the pur- 
pose of the founder of the college in furnishing a school for secondary 
education in morals and letters had become impossible, or rather profit- 
less, because there were other schools which much better discharged 
these functions in Manila, to change by decree the purpose to which 
the funds should be devoted and allow them to be used for the con- 
duct and maintenance of a professional school for the education of 
ph3\sicians and pharmacists. It is urged that the secular and non- 
sectarian character of the education in which the funds were thus 
devoted by order of the King is the strongest indication: First, that 
the original donation was regarded by those then in authority not as a 
religious and ecclesiastical charit}^ but only as a philanthropic one; 
and second, that the effect of the decrees was a final decision that the 
King might, in the exercise of prerogative, without consulting the 
head of the Church of Rome or any of his ministers, treat the founda- 
tion as one completely within his civil control. The argument for the 
church that all that the King of Spain did or attempted to do in 
the control of the college was because of his authority as patron of 
the college under the Papal bull conceding universal patronage in the 
Indies was met by the contention that ecclesiastical patronage was 
only the power of presenting a candidate for ecclesiastical benefices or 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 39 

for offices in a religious college, and did not include any control over 
the ecclesiastical trust funds or the right to call the official incumbents 
to an account, and did not embrace the right to change the purposes 
for which the funds should be used; that powers of this kind could 
only be exercised by the King as a civil sovereign and parens patriae. 

In reply to the argument for the church based on charter contract 
rights and principles laid down in the Dartmouth College case, the 
answer is made that they have no application to the controversy before 
us, for the reason: First, that it is difficult to find anything in the facts 
here analogous to the charter in that case, and even if the will could 
be so regarded, the provision that the college should be managed by 
the Jesuit provincial had become impossible of execution, for the rea- 
son that the person described had become incapable and the purpose 
profitless and impracticable. Reference is made to the decision of the 
Supreme Court of the United States in the Mormon Church case 
(136 U. S.), in which it was held that where a trust failed because of 
impossibility of execution the United States, as sovereign, had power 
as parens patriae to supply a trustee and to order the application oj 
the trust funds to a purpose analogous to that originally fixed in the 
deed of gift or charter. 

Accordingly here it was urged that as the status of the college at 
the time of the Treaty of Paris was that of a foundation under the 
civil control of the sovereign of Spain as parens patriae, the United 
States in the same capacity had the power to make any suitable pro- 
vision for the conduct of the college as a school of medicine under any 
directory it might see fit, and the onl}^ suitable directory in a govern 
ment in which the church was separate from the state was one free 
from ecclesiastic or monastic influence. 

OPINION. 

We have thus stated the arguments pro and con in this case as fairl}^ 
as we could, condensing much and possibly in some instances suggesting 
additional arguments on each side which do not appear in the briefs. 
We are now to state our conclusions: 

The Treaty of Paris between Spain and the United States, by which 
these islands were ceded to the latter Government, provides in article 
8, section 2: 

That the relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, can not in any respect 
impair the property or rights which by law belong to the peaceful possession of 
property of all kinds, of provinces, municipalities, public or private establishments, 
ecclesiastical or civil bodies, or any other associations having legal capacity to acquire 
and possess property in the aforesaid territories, renounced or ceded, or of private 
individuals, of whatsoever nationality such individuals may be. 

The same obligation would rest upon this commission and the military 
government under the instructions of the President for the guidance 
of the comrrission, and the question which must be decided finally to 
settle this controversy is: What was the status of the property and 
foundation of the College of San Jose at the time of the ratification of 
the treaty of Paris, by which the sovereignty over these islands was 
transferred from Spain to the United States, and under which the 
public propert}^ situate in these islands and the public civil trusts of the 
Government and Crown of Spain to be performed here were transferred 
to the Government of the United States? 

It is conceivable that between the Crown of Spain and the head of the 
Roman Catholic Church there might have been a controversy as to the 



40 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

right of control and management by the Crown over certain property 
within tlie territorial jurisdiction of the Kingdom; but if the views of 
the Crown had been carried into effect by the usual methods of settling 
rights according to the laws and customs of the existing sovereignty, 
and possession and control finally established thereby, it would seem 
that, so far as the United States is concerned, the controversy must be 
deemed to have been finally settled and not capable of being reopened 
under the new sovereignt}^, at least where sufficient time has elapsed 
to constitute the usual period of prescription. For instance, it could 
hardly be maintained that the pragmatic sanction, under which the 
properties of the Jesuit order in 1768 were confiscated and became the 
property of the Crown of Spain, could now be set aside on the ground 
that this was an arbitrary act and deprived the order of its property 
without due process of law. In other words, in a discussion like this, 
we must have a starting point, and that is the status of the property as 
settled by the lawful civil decrees of the government whose sovereignty 
is transferred by the treaty of cession. 

It is difficult to escape the inference drawn by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Crowder from the decrees of 1870 that the Government of Spain then 
supposed it had the right to secularize the College of San Jose, but it 
is also true, as pointed out by the same gentleman in his very learned 
and able report on the subject, that the parts of the decree which 
implied this power were not enforced, and were frustrated by the 
resistance of the ecclesiastical authorities in these islands ; and the same 
is to be said of the decrees of 1875 and later years, except so far as it 
could be said to be a secularization of the properties and foundation of 
the college to make it a subordinate branch for the teaching of secular 
subjects in a university conducted by the Dominican order of monks 
under the ultimate authority of the Pope. 

It is apparent from the arguments stated above that among the ques- 
tions which will probably be of importance in the decision of the issue 
of this case is whether under the canon law the foundation here made 
in the will of Figueroa was an ecclesiastical pious work subject to the 
ultimate control of the Church of Rome; another is, whether the power 
exercised by the King over colleges under his protection to control 
them without the intervention of the archbishop was necessarily depend- 
ent upon the papal grant, or was exercised by the Crown as its own 
without regard to the church. Another question not mu(?h mooted in 
the discussion before the commission would probably come up for deci- 
sion on this issue; and that is, whether the right of universal patronage 
of the Indies exercised by the Crown of Spain over such an institution 
as the College of San Jose finds its source in the bulls of the Pope in 
1493, 1501, and 1508, which have already been referred to, or only finds 
recognition in those bulls of its existence, when in fact its real source 
was the right of discovery and sovereignty. This issue is one which 
has been the subject of profound discussion by learned canonists on 
the one side, upholding the view that the source of it was entirely 
ecclesiastical and papal, while on the other the contention of certain 
civilians, notably the fiscal of the royal audiencia of Cuba, D. Eduardo 
Alonzo y Colmenares, is that the principal and preeminent titles on 
which the Kings of Spain base the universal patronage of the Indies 
are those of discovery and conquest of the dominion and the foundation 
and endowment of the institution in question; and that the bulls are 
mere recognitions of a title already established. Another is whether, 



CHUKCH LAIRDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 41 

even if the United States may act as parens patri^, its provision for a 
trustee and a purpose analogous to that of the founder should not be 
limited to that of a trustee who is a priest of the same church as the 
founder and a purpose nearer to the aims of the Catholic Church than 
a merely secular professional school. 

And doubtless other difficult questions not now considered may arise 
in a final argument of the case. In other words, in order to decide 
the merits of this case, we should probably have to consider and settle a 
nice question of canonical law, and investigate and discuss the historical 
and legal relations of the Crown of Spain to the head of the Catholic 
Church. Neither of these questions do we feel competent now to decide 
with the materials which are before us and with the time at our disposal, 
nor do we need to do so. We are not a court. We are only a legislative 
body. It is our expressly delegated function in just such cases as this 
to provide a means for the peaceful and just decision of the issues 
arising. Had we been able to decide clearly and emphatically that the 
petitioners had no rights here and that their claims were so flimsy as 
not to merit the assistance of the legislature in bringing them to adju- 
dication in a court of justice, we might have properly dismissed the 
petition and taken no action thereon, but we are of opinion, all of us, 
that the contentions of the petitioners present serious and difficult 
questions of law, sufficiently doubtful to require that they should be 
decided by a learned and impartial court of competent jurisdiction, 
and that it is our dut}^ to make legislative provision for testing the 
question. If it be true that the United States is either itself the trus- 
tee to administer these funds, or occupies the relation of parens patriae 
to them, it becomes its duty to provide for their administration by a 
proper directory, whose first function will be to assert, in the name 
and authority of the United States, their right to administer the funds 
of the college against the adverse claims of the person now in charge, 
who claims to hold under and by virtue of the control over the funds 
by the Catholic Church; and this legislative action we now propose to 
take, not thereby intimating an opinion upon the merits of the case, 
but merely by this means setting in motion the proper machinery for 
the ultimate decision by a competent tribunal. 

The military government, of which we are the legislature, is a pro- 
visional government; but for all this, pending its existence, it has the 
power to provide for the conservation of public property and the tem- 
porary carrying on of trusts with respect to which the sovereign is 
charged with any duty. 

The only tribunal which we can provide for deciding this cause is 
a tribunal over which, by the instructions of the President, we nmst 
exercise the power of appointment. Lest, therefore, any opinion 
which we might intimate should be used by either side in the case to 
be argued and decided as authority in that tribunal, we have been 
careful to express no other definitive opinion than that the petitioners 
have presented a case of sufficient dignity and seriousness to warrant 
its full consideration by a court of justice. We think, moreover, 
as the United States occupies the relation of general trustee toward 
the public of the Philippines, in whose behalf the cause is here pressed, 
that it is not stepping beyond the bounds of impartiality for the com- 
mission to devote from the public funds a reasonable sum for the pay- 
ment of the costs and expenses of the conduct of this litigation by 
the complainant and those whom he represents. He claims to rep- 



42 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

resent the general public, and, should his petition be granted and 
his case made, certainly the fund will be administered for the benefit 
of the general public. In the disturbed condition of the country, 
when private contributions are difficult to secure, when four years 
of war have made practicall}" impossible donations for such a purpose 
sufficient to meet its requirements, it is right that from the public 
funds provision be made. We think the sum of |5,000 in money of 
the United States is sufficient for this purpose, and we shall appropriate 
this amount accordingly to pay the expenses of getting the evidence, 
preparing the record, printing the briefs, and as fees for professional 
services. The fund will be enough in view of the provision which 
we expect to make that the petitioners may call upon the Attorney- 
General to assist in the prosecution of the case. 

It is important that the issue be decided as soon as the proper con- 
sideration of so important a question in the due course of justice can 
be given to it by a competent tribunal. As the United States is prac- 
tically a party to the litigation, we do not think it necessary to have 
resort to the ordinary tribunals of first instance. The case is of such 
signal importance that it ma}^ very well be heard by the Supreme Court 
original^, and we shall provide in the act authorizing the bringing of 
the suit the procedure to be followed, so as to secure an early hearing 
on the merits. 

The procedure briefly stated will be as follows: 

The trustees whom we shall appoint will file their declaration or 
petition in the Supreme Court, setting forth the legislation under 
which they act and their appointment, describing the properties of 
the College of San Jose, stating in a summary manner the history of the 
college under which they assert the power of the United States to 
provide control of the property, and praying a decree of the court 
directing the surrender by the rector of the University of Santo Tomas, 
in charge of the properties of the College of San Jose, to the peti- 
tioners. To the petition should be made parties, not only the rector 
of the university who has charge of the properties, but also the arch- 
bishop of Manila or the Episcopal administrator of the diocese, the 
Apostolic delegate, as the representative of the Catholic Church, claim- 
ing an interest in the property. A summons shall then issue in the usual 
form, accompanied by a copy of the petition, and shall be served upon 
the rector of the university and the archbishop, and a return of said 
summons shall be made by the officer authorized by the court to serve 
the same, within two weeks after it shall issue. The summons shall 
require that the parties defendant shall answer the petition within thirty 
days from the day fixed for the return of the service. Upon the filing 
of the answer in the supreme court, the petitioners shall have two 
weeks thereafter to file a reply to new matters set up in the answer by 
way of defense. New matters set up by way of reply shall be taken 
as denied without further pleading. After the cause shall be thus at 
issue and the evidence taken, the supreme court shall give precedence 
to the hearing of the same and shall set it for as early a date as pos- 
sible consistent with the proper preparation of the arguments by the 
opposing parties. Should the court upon final hearing decide that the 
case of the petitioners is not made out upon law and the evidence, it 
shall dismiss the petition and award cost against the petitioners. 
Should the court, on the other hand, decide that the case of the peti- 
tioners is made out and that the trustees appointed by this commission 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 43 

are entitled to have possession and control of the foundation and 
properties of the Colleg^e of San Jose and that the Catholic Church, 
either through the rector of the university or through the arch- 
bishop, has no interest or right of control in said propert}" for the 
purpose of carrying on a school of medicine and pharmacy, the court 
shall enter a decree finding the right of control and management to 
be in the trustees and directing the dispossession of the rector of the 
universit}^ of the properties of the College of San Jose, and decree- 
ing an accounting against him of the rents and profits of the college 
during his incumbency as administrator of the College of San Jose 
which have not been expended in conducting the college or preserving 
its properties, allowing, however, a credit in such accounting of a 
reasonable sum for counsel fees and the expenses for the litigation 
by him incurred. The costs of the case shall not include the counsel 
fees on either side. 

It is not at all unlikely that before the Congress which was elected 
in November last and which will meet in December next shall finally 
adjourn it will conclude to confer upon the Supreme Court of the 
United States jurisdiction to consider appeals from the supreme court 
of these islands. The present case, involving a construction of the 
Treaty of Paris and the efiect upon public trusts of a transfer of sov- 
ereignty^ from a kingdom in which church and state were united, and 
one misfht almost sav inextricablv fused, to one in which church and 
state are kept entirely separate, is of such importance as to make most 
appropriate the submission of the issue to a court of the dignity, learn- 
ing, ability, and commanding jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. This commission has no power to confer such juris- 
diction upon that court, but it maj^ make a legislative provision which 
shall prevent the decision of the supreme court of these islands from 
being so final in its character as to make it impossible for the Congress 
of the United States, after its rendition, to provide an appeal to the 
United States Supreme Court. The law to be passed will, therefore, 
enact that upon the entering of the decree bv the supreme court of the 
islands it shall be immediately carried into efiect. If against the peti- 
tioner, the petition shall be dismissed and the costs awarded collected; 
if against the defendants, and in favor of the petitioners, the decree 
shall be executed b}^ a change of possession and control of the college 
and an accounting; but the decree shall not become final so as to pre- 
vent an appeal, b}^ virtue of a provision of the Congress of the United 
States, to the Supreme Court of the United States, or some other tri- 
bunal, until the ttth of March, 1903. 

There remains to be considered the question involved in the petition 
to the governor to rescind the order of General Otis suspending the 
conduct of the college under the rector of the University of St. Thomas. 
In view of the conclusion which we have reached that there is much 
to be said on the merits by both parties, it is clear to a demonstration 
that there is no reason for disturbing or interfering with the posses- 
sions of the part}^ whose control and ownership is disputed until final 
decree. Without considering the wisdom or propriety of the order of 
General Otis, in view of the militar}^ necessitv which was then said to 
be urgent, we are very clear that no such military necessity now exists. 
There is no evidence before us that the rector of the universit}" and 
others in control of the funds and property are wasting them and no 
reason has been shown for the appointment of a receiver. The admin- 



44 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

istration of the property by those selected by the Spanish Government 
may certainly continue for the short time pending the hearing of the 
case without serious detriment to anyone concerned. The arbitrary 
operation of an injunctive order made without a judicial hearing should 
be avoided if possible, especiall}^ where the issue is a doubtful one, 
and where judges and lawyers may conscientiously differ. Whether 
the professional education afforded under the management of those ^ho 
are now in possession of the properties of the college is as advanced 
as it should be, or not, it is certainly better that the properties should 
be used for an educational purpose than that they should lie idle. We 
shall recommend to the military governor that the injunctive order 
against the opening of the College of San Jose by the rector of the 
university be rescinded. 

Before closing, we must fix the number and state the names of the 
persons to act as trustees to conduct the litigation now about to be 
begun and to take charge of the college and its estates should the 
decision and decree of the court be in their favor. The first trustee 
will be the gentleman who thus far has borne the burden of the con- 
test for those whom he represents. Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera. By 
appointing him or any other trustee who has manifested a zeal in the 
cause of the complainant, we only do so in order that the question 
shall be energetically pushed to a settlement, and not thereby to indi- 
cate that the trustees represent our views on the issue. As the trus- 
tees, in a sense, will be asserting the validity of the exercise of power 
of the Government of the United States, it seems appropriate to make 
trustee Dr. Charles R. Greenleaf , colonel and chief surgeon. Division 
of the Philippines, in the United States Army. The third trustee will 
be Mr. Leon M. Guerrero; the fourth trustee, Manuel Gomez Mar- 
tinez, M. D., and the fifth Frank S. Bourns, M. D. 

There has been much popular and political interest in the contro- 
versy in which we have now stated our conclusions. The questions 
considered, however, have not had any political color at all. They 
have been purely questions of law and proper legal procedure, and so 
will they be in the court to which they are now sent. The decision of 
the right to control San Jose College can not legitimately be affected 
by the political feeling which one may have for or against the friars. 
It is unfortunate that the public should clothe the settlement of an 
issue purely legal with political significance when it ought not to have 
and does not have one. But, however this ma}^ be, those charged 
with settling it can pursue only one path, and that is the path of legal 
right as they see it. 

The secretary will now read the bill, which has passed two readings 
of the commission and which now comes up for a third reading and 
passage: 

[No. 69.] 

AN ACT providing a board of trvistees to conduct the College of San Jose as a school of medicine and 
ph armacy, to bring an action against the persons now in possession of the property of the college, 
vesting the supreme court with jurisdiction to determine the controversy, and appropriating five 
thousand dollars to pay the expenses of the litigation. 

By authority of the President of the United States, he it enacted by the United States Philip- 
pine Commission that — 

Section 1. T. H. Pardo de Tavera, M. D., Charles R. Greenleaf, M. D., colonel and 
chief surgeon of the Division of the Philippines in the United States Army, Leon M. 
Guerrero, Manuel Gomez Martinez, M. D., and Frank S. Bourns, M. D., are hereby 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 45 

constituted a board of trustees to take possession of and manage the property and 
estates of the College of San Jose of the city of Manila, to maintain and conduct in 
the buildings of said college a school of medicine and pharmacy for the benefit of the 
qualified members of the public of the Philippine Islands, with power to determine 
the number of professorial chairs to be established, the number of instructors and 
demonstrators needed, to appoint professors constituting the faculty, to appoint the 
necessary instructors and demonstrators and other necessary ofiicers and employes, to 
fix the curriculum, to fix reasonable tuition and other fees to be collected from the 
students, to determine the period of study necessary for the conferring of the degrees 
of doctor of medicine and doctor of pharmacy, and to take any other steps needed in 
the creation and maintenance of an efficient school of medicine and pharmacy 
for the Philippine people. 

Sec. 2. The board hereby constituted shall organize within fourteen days after the 
passage of this act, shall elect a president and a secretary from its own members, and 
shall keep minutes of its proceedings. 

Sec. 3. Whereas there is now in possession of the property and assets of the Col- 
lege of San Jose a person who is the rector of the University of Santo Tomas, a mem- 
ber of the Dominican Order, claiming to be in possession by virtue of the ultimate 
ownership and right of control of said property and estates by the Roman Catholic 
Church and denying the power of the United States Government either to assume 
control of said property or to make provision for the administration of the same, as 
in section one of this act, the board hereby constituted is required, in the discharge 
of its duties, first, to assert its claim to discharge its duties as imposed by this act in 
the due and ordinary legal procedure hereinafter set forth, and to take no steps to 
secure physical possession of the properties and estates of the College of San Jose 
until the issue between them and the rector of the University of Santo Tomas and 
the representatives of the Catholic Church shall have been duly decided by the court 
of competent jurisdiction as hereinafter prescribed. 

Sec 4. Within thirty days after the passage hereof the board herein constituted 
shall file its petition in the supreme court of the islands, setting forth the appoint- 
ment of the board under this act, its powers and duties hereunder, its claim of right 
to the possession of the properties and estates of the College of San Jose for the pur- 
pose of discharging such duties, the fact that under a claim of right the property is 
held by the rector of the University of Santo Tomas, representing the ultimate con- 
trol of the Roman Catholic Church, setting forth succinctly the history of the college 
and a statement of the facts upon which the right of the United States to provide for 
the administration of the college is asserted, and praying that the court shall enter a 
decree ousting the rector of the University of Santo Tomas or any other minister 
or representative of the Roman Catholic Church from possession of the properties 
and estates of said college, and placing the petitioners in possession thereof so as to 
enable them to discharge the duties imposed upon them by this act. The petition 
shall make party defendant thereto, not only the rector of the University of Santo 
Tomas, but also the archbishop of Manila or the archbishop of New Orleans, Apos- 
tolic Delegate, who in the absence of the archbishop of Manila from the Philippine 
Islands is the Episcopal administrator of the archiepiscopal province and of the 
bishopric of Manila, and shall require said archbishop as the representative of the 
Roman Catholic Church to set up its claim of ownership and right to control 
the properties and estates of the College of San Jose. Upon the filing of the peti- 
tion a summons shall issue in the usual form against the rector of the University of 
Santo Tomds and the archbishop of Manila or the Episcopal administrator thereof, 
accompanied by a certified copy of the petition. A return of the service of such 
summons and copy upon the parties defendants shall be made within fifteen days 
after the issuing of the summons by an officer duly authorized to make the service. 
Within thirty days after the day fixed for the return of service, the defendants shall 
file their several answers or a joint answer, as they may elect, stating the facts upon 
which they deny the right and power of the United States to provide for the admin- 
istration of said college and its estates and praying a dismissal of the petition at the 
costs of the petitioners. Within fifteen days after the filing of the answer or answers 
the petitioners shall have the right to file a reply to any new facts set up in the answer. 
New averments of the reply shall be considered as denied by the defendants. The 
cause shall then be at issue and no further pleadings shall be filed. After the cause 
shall be at issue, the petitioners shall have thirty days in which to take evidence in 
support of the averments of their petition; the defendants shall have forty-five days 
in which to take evidence to sustain their answer or answers, and the petitioners 
fifteen days to take any necessary evidence in reply. The evidence shall be taken 
in a manner to be prescribed by the supreme court. Within seven days after the 
cause shall be at issue the parties shall appear before the supreme court and stipu- 



46 CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

late so far as possible what facts may be taken as agreed upon by all the parties in 
interest, so as to save the necessity for proof of the same by either party, and this 
stipulation shall be spread upon the records of the court. When the evidence shall 
have been submitted, the cause shall be given precedence in the supreme court, and 
shall be heard at as early a date as possible. Provided, however, That for good cause 
shown, the supreme court may in its discretion extend any of the periods hereinbefore 
fixed. 

Sec. 5. The supreme court of the islands, including all its members, as it is now 
or may hereafter be constituted, is hereby given jurisdiction to hear the controversy 
above described and to follow the procedure above defined. After reaching a con- 
clusion upon the issues made, it shall proceed to enter its decree. If it finds in favor 
of granting the prayer of the petition, it shall enter a decree ousting the defendants 
from possession of the properties and estates of the College of San Jose and awarding 
costs against the defendants, and requiring an accounting by the rector of the Uni- 
versity of Santo Tomiis of all moneys coming into his hands from such properties 
and estates, allowing him a credit for all money expended in the conduct of the 
college, the preservation of its properties and estates, and a credit for the reasonable 
expenses of defending the suit and costs awarded therein. Should the court find 
the issues in favor of the defendants, it shall enter a decree dismissing the petition 
and awarding costs against the petitioners. In no case shall the fees of attorneys, 
solicitors, or advocates of the successful party be included in the costs adjudged 
against the losing party. 

Sec. 6. Upon the rendition of the decree by the supreme court in the suit herein- 
above provided for, the decree shall be immediately executed. If the decree is for 
the petitioners, they shall be at once put in the possession of the properties and 
estates of the College of San Jose, without awaiting the result of the accounting in 
such case to be decreed, which shall then proceed in due course; if for the defend- 
ants, the petition shall be at once dismissed and an execution issue for the collection 
of the costs: Provided, hoirever, That the decree entered shall not be so final in its 
character as to prevent the Congress of the United States on or before March 3, 
1903, from making provision for an appeal from the decree entered by the supreme 
court under this act to the Supreme Court of the United States or any other court 
thereof. 

Sec. 7. The sum of five thousand dollars ($5,000) in money of the United States is 
hereby appropriated from any funds in the insular treasury not otherwise appro- 
priated, to pay the costs and expenses of the board of trustees hereby appointed in 
the litigation herein provided for, including reasonable counsel fees. The money 
shall be disbursed by the disbursing officer of the commission upon the order of the 
board, after the money shall have been drawn out of the treasury upon the requisi- 
tion of the disbursing officer in the manner provided by law. It shall be the duty 
of the attorney-general of the supreme court to appear as one of the counsel in sup- 
port of the petition and he shall receive no additional compensation therefor. 

Sec. 8. The trustees herein appointed shall hold office subject to the will of the 
commission. Should any vacancies exist or occur in the board by reason of non- 
acceptance of the appointment, resignation, or death, the same shall be filled by 
appointment by the commission. 

Sec. 9. The public good requiring the speedy enactment of this bill, the passage of 
the same is hereby expedited in accordance with section 2 of "An act prescribing the 
order of procedure by the commission in the enactment of laws," passed September 
26, 1900. 

Sec 10. This act shall take effect on its passage. 

Enacted January 5, 1901. 



TESTIMONY TAKEN BY THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION 
RELATING TO RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 



INDEX IN EE FRIARS. 

1. Dominicans — Santiago Paya. 

2. Franciscans — Rev. Juan Villegas. 

3. Augustinians — The Very Eev. Jose Lobo., 

4. Recolletos — Very Rev. Francisco Araya. 

5. Capuchino — Padre Alphonso Maria de Morertin. 

6. Benedictino — Padre Juan Sabater. 

7. Paulist — 

8. Jesuits — Miguel Saderra Mata. 

9. The archbishop of Manila. 

10. The bishop of Jaro. 

11. The bishop of Vigan. 

12. Don Felipe Calderon. 

13. Jose Roderigues Infante. 

14. Nozario Constantino of Bigaa. 

15. Maximo Viola, of San Miguel de Mayumo. 

16. Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera. 

17. Pedro Surano Laktaw. 

18. Ambrosia Flores. 

19. Phelps Whitmarsh. 

20. Ceferino Jovan, alcalde of Bacolor. 

21. Gen. R. P. Hughes. 

22. Col. William H. Beck. 

23. Florentino Torres, attorney-general. 

24. Jose Ros. 

25. Francisco Gonzales. 

26. Leading residents of the town of Aringay. 

27. Jose Templo. 

28. Jorge Garcia del Fierro. 

29. Col. Charles W. Hood. 

30. Brig. Gen. Jas. F. Smith. 

31. P. R. Mercado. 

32. Jose C. Mijares. 

33. Francisco Alvarez. 

34. Raymundo Melliza Angulo. 

35. Felipe G. Calderon. 

36. Wm. H. Taft. 

37. Hermenegildo J. Torres. 

38. C. W. Minor. 



July 31, 1900. 

DOMINICANS— INTERVIEW OF SANTIAGO PAYA. 

Q. Will you please state your full name, the order to which you 
belong, and the position you hold in that order. 
A. Santiago Paya, provincial of the Dominicans. 
Q. How long have you been in the Philippines ? 

47 



48 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

A. I arrived in 1871, but eight years since then I have spent in 
Spain. 

Q. You have spent more than half your life here? 

A. Yes. 

I would like to go a little into the history of the Dominicans, if 
^ou will be good enough. How long has that order been in the 
Philippines ? 

The first men arrived in 1587. Some 5^ears prior to that, in 
1581, the first bishop of Manila and a companion, who were Domini- 
cans, arrived in Manila. 

Q. And the order has been continuously here since that time? 

A. Yes, sir. The order was founded in the beginning of the thir- 
teenth ^-entury. The order was confirmed in 1261 by Pope Holoriues. 
The purposes of the order are incorporated in bulls and other docu- 
ments issued by papal authority, and they are printed in a set of nine 
volumes, which they term the Hulario of the order. It is a compila- 
tion of all documents relating to the order 

Q. Is not the chief function of the order to do missionary work to 
enlarge the usefulness of the church? 
~-^A. The saving of souls through preaching and teaching, etc. 

Q. And in carrying the limits of the church or its influence beyond 
where it was at the time of organization ? 

A. In carrying missions to the farthermost ends of the earth. 

Q. In other words, they undertake to carry the church into new 
countries rather than to remain where the secular priests were con- 
ducting the ordinary exercises of the church? 

A, Preaching in countries not only already Catholic, but also to the 
unfaithful. The Dominicans have missionaries in Tonkin, China, For- 
mosa, and other places in the Orient. 

Q. Have any of your priests sufi'ered in China? 

A. There are Dominicans in Foochow and Soochow, and none have 
been molested that I am aware of. 

Q. I have been told the Jesuits have lost several priests? 

A. Yes, sir; they are farther north. 

Q. Has the order laymen as well as priests ? 

A. They have, of course, regular ordained priests, and they also 
have lay priests, who take the same oath, but the}^ are not ordained. 

Q. But they can not administer all the sacraments ? 

A. No, sir. 

Q. There are no Filipino members of the order? 

A. No, sir. 

Q. Are there any lay members who are Filipinos? 

A. No. There is what is called a third order, composed of private 
individuals, married, who take no vows, but they never could become 
ordained. They have certain religious usages or practices, but they 
are not bound by any vows or ties. 

Q. They are only auxiliary members? 

A. They are entirely independent, because they are not subject to 
the rules superior and do not take any vows. 

Q. Were you a parish priest in these islands before you became the 
head of the order? 

, A. No; I was a teacher in the university. 

/ Q. And now you are also the head of the University of Santo T omas ? 
I A. I was the president of the university until I was made provincial 
of this order, but even now I have a superintendence over me. 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 49 

Q. What is his name ? 

A. Paimundo Yalacques, the head of the university. 

Q. How many priests were there in your order in 1896, when the 
revolution began ? 
^ -A. Two hundred and four fathers and 29 lay brothers. 

Q. Can you give me a list pf the towns and villages in the Philip- 
pines in which the priests of your order acted as parish priests ? 

A. Every year we published a register giving the places and the 
number of souls, etc., in the islands where our order was engaged in 
saving souls. 

Q. Does that include the whole order or only in these islands? 

A. It includes the order in the Orient. 

Q. What civil or political functions did the priests of your order 
exercise under the Spanish Crown in the parishes to which they were 
assigned ? 

/ A. They exercised no civil or political duties at all. The only thing 
/ the parish priest did was to act as inspector of schools, which was not 
i by law exactly, but the Spanish law recognized that, because they 
devoted themselves to the public service. 

Q. Was not there a provision in the Spanish law of the government 
of the municipalities that the parish priests, without respect to the 
order to which they belonged, should serve on civil committees of the 
municipalities ? 

A. In 1893, by a charter act, they reorganized the laws relating to 
municipalities; and according to the terms of that law of reorganiza- 
tion the provincials here were members of that council of administra- 
tion, and in the provinces the provincials there also became a member 
of that council in the municipalit3\ The parish priest became a 
member of the local board corresponding to the council of administra- 
tion, but the parish priest paid ver}^ little attention to that, as it was 
a new element to him; by reason of things which ensued they had no 
chance; but prior to that time they exercised no civil duties at all. 

Q. Is it not a fact that the priest, and I am now referring to jour 
order, although it applies to all orders of the islands, probabh% was 
the most intelligent man, the man most acquainted with general affairs 
in the town, and whether every public thing that was done was first 
submitted to him. I mean in the small country towns. 
/ A. Naturally the parish priests were all men of great influence, 
moral influence, b}^ reason of their holy office, and they were not only 
the parish priests, but they were even sometimes judges, because 
oftentimes the Filipino would prefer to submit their questions in liti- 
gation to the parish priests than to their own judges; and consequently 
the Spanish Government, recognizing this moral hold — this moral influ- 
ence that the priest had over the people — took advantage of it so as to 
get the people to pay their taxes and comply with law, but they never 
exercised an}^ political or civil charges; but the Government itself took 
advantage of these facts to get them to keep the men within the law. 

Q. Is it not a fact that there were a great many parishes in these 
islands in which there were no Spanish soldiers at all? 

A. The greater part. In the immense majority there were neither 
soldiers nor civilians, and only the parish priests, and this in towns up 
to 20,000. 

Q. Did not the Spanish Government, then, come to rely on the priests 
as the best means the}^ had to enforce law and order? 

S. Doc. 190 4 



50 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

A. Yes, sir. It was the principal element that they relied on, but 
through the moral element of the priest. 

Q. Is not it difficult in exercising power of that sort to make a dis- 
tinction between the moral influence and the actual influence exercised 
by reason of that position i 

A. Of course the priest was backed up by the Government nat- 
uralh% and the people recognized that. 

Q. I have understood that it is one of the principles of 3^our order 
and of the Catholic Church generally that the civil authority, where 
it does not attempt to interfere with the rights of the church, is to 
be supported by the members of the order and the members of the 
church ? 

A. All lawfully constituted authority has the support of the church. 

Q. And, of course, this is an order of the church, and is one of the 
aims of the church to carry that principle wherever they go? 

A. Yes, sir; to such an extent that even in China, where the author- 
ities are pagans, the priests advise their flocks to obe}" the laws of the 
land. That law is not so much a principle of the church as it is a 
divine or natural principle. We always have to respect the authority 
which is lawfully constituted. 

Q. I remember in the case of France, though the monarchial party 
was favorable to the Papal power, nevertheless the Pope advised the 
Catholics of France to submit to the Republic and support that power. 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. And, therefore, the members of your order in administering the 
offices they had to administer and in exercising the influence their 
position gave them, both civil and religious, were loyal to Spain during 
the two revolutions? 

A. Defending the fatherland as a duty toward one's own conscience, 
there was not a single exception. 

Q. Did it not, therefore, come to pass that to those who were 
engaged in the revolution, and especially in that large part of the 
country where the Spanish soldiers did not go, that the parish priests 
represented to the people the Crown of Spain and loyalty to that Crown ? 

A. The priest was oftentimes the only Spaniard in the town, but he 
onh^ exercised moral suasion. The civ^il authority was represented by 
what was known as the gobernadorcillo. 

Q. We are dealing with facts, with substance, and did not the priest 
represent the real authority in favor of law and order and preservance 
of the rights of Spain, especially after the gobernadorcillo had turned 
his coat and gone over to the revolutionists? 

A. As a fact the gobernadorcillo did not do anything without con- 
sulting the parish priest. 

Q. Until he became a revolutionist? 

A. That has onl}" been latel3^ 

Q. I am speaking now of 1896 and 1898. 

A. In '96 and '98, in many of the towns the people remained at least 
apparently favorable to Spain and were in communication with their 
parish priest. 

The generality of people in the provinces are uneducated and very 
simple folk, and more sincere, but the Indian is a little false, rather 
deceitful, and has a little head. 

Q. How were the priests of your order supported during the time 
they acted as parish priests? 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 51 

A. They had a stipend from the Spanish Government. 

Q. Can 3'ou state generally what that amounted to for each priest? 

A. It depended upon the class of the parish. Some received §500, 
others §600, others §700, and others §800. There were some, a very 
few, like that of Manila and Bindondo, who received f'?l,200 per annum. 

Q. 1 do not know how far that amount would go in 1896, but I know 
it would not go very far now with present prices. 

A. Aside from that, he received another revenue in the form of 
fees which were paid for certain offices performed by him, which fees 
were fixed by the bishop with the approval of the government [pre- 
sents a written statement on the subject]. 

Q. Let me look over that statement, if I may. I suppose there was 
a fee for marriage ? 

A. For marriages, §3.62. One-eighth of that was for the church 
and the other for the parish priest and his support. For burials, 
§1.50 for children, for adults, §2.25. For christening, 12i cents, 
including the cost of the candle. These were the ordinary' prices, but 
when a person wanted pomp and show, there was a special price. Even 
these fees were sometimes not charged in the case of poor people, 
either in whole or in part. 

Q. You have read from a list. I suppose that was a list formulated 
by a bishop in a particular diocese, but it represents the general 
charges throughout the island? 

A. The list is over 100 years old. There is very little difi'erence 
in all the dioceses. Spaniards paid the most, the mestizo paid a little 
higher than the Indian, and the Indian paid the least. 

Q. Were there any voluntary contributions by the members of the 
congregation each Sunday? Did they take up a collection? 

A. It was not the custom. 

Q. Who built the churches in which the parish priests officiated and 
the conventos in which they lived ? 

A. The parishioners always built the churches. All the towns here 
were formed little by little, and when they had sufficient population 
they would erect a church. The parish priest had to act as the head 
carpenter, the head mason, and had to direct the brickwork, and at 
times had to go out and show them how to cut the lumber down. 
The conventos were also built in that way. 

Q. They call it convento here. In the United States a convent 
means a place where the nuns live — the sisters. 

A. Here and in the provinces they call the parish house the convent. 

Q. Was the title to the churches and conventos put in the Crown of 
Spain ? 

A. In some cases the churches and parsonages were erected with 
funds furnished b}^ the order itself, in case of mission churches. 

Q. Do you know how man}^ there were erected by 3^our order? 

A. In that statement you have it specifies mission churches and 
mission parsonages. They were built with the funds of the order. 
The other parsonages and churches were erected by general church 
funds, and oftentimes the parish priest would make a contribution. 
The congregation would assist most!}' b}^ manual labor, and the gov- 
ernment at times would cause men who had to do government work 
on public buildings to assist in the work, thereby contributing its share 
as patron of the church instead of paying money. 

Q. Do you know how the title was secured to the land on which 



52 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

the churches were erected ? Did not they ordinarily build on the open 
square of the town ? 

A. Land here at first was of course free to ever3^body . Oftentimes 
the parish priest would buy the land and in other cases the land 
belonged to the town. 

Q. How have the deeds been registered ? 

A. Only a few years ago in the provinces did the}^ begin to have 
any deeds. No records at all were kept until a few years ago. 

Q. How have they been made since the practice of making deeds ? 

A. Of all those recorded in there as mission churches and parson- 
ages, I do not know of a single instance where they have been recorded. 
They were erected, and the}^ have been used for the proper purposes, 
and the parish priest has been living in the parsonages — nobody has 
disputed the title and nothing has ever arisen under it. 

Q. Of course, as a lawyer, I want to know where the title is. 
Wherever the title, there is no doubt that the church and convent are 
to be devoted to the purposes for which they were built — the Catholic 
religion— but the duty of the Government of the United States, with 
respect to property to which it may have acquired title by transfer, 
will be varied, as it finds out where that title is. If it has title in 
itself it will be the duty of the Government to transfer that title to 
someone for the church or the people of the church. 

A. As up to a very few years ago there were hardl}^ any Spaniards 
in the provinces, this matter was done without any titles at all. There 
were no Spaniards, no lawyers, no notaries, and no records in the 
provinces. 

Q. In the United States it has been the habit of the Catholic Church 
to carry the title of land which belongs to the church in the name of 
the bishop of the diocese. 

A. Yes, sir; as he is the representative. So far as the property 
belonging to the corporation, the order, I have a deed and it is 
recorded. 

Q. I have heard that the title of the cathedral and of the arch- 
bishop's residence is in the Crown of Spain. 

A. It belongs to the church of Manila. The fact is, the Govern- 
ment contributed sums of money toward the building of both by the 
obligation that it had assumed with the Holy See and as the patron of 
the church ; but it never occurred to the Spanish Government to claim 
any part of the land, as they recognized that it belonged to the Catholic 
Church. 

Q. There is no doubt that that is where it belongs. It is only a 
question where the legal title rests. 

A. I think it is in the name of the archbishop. 

Q. I have heard from Colonel Crowder that the title was in the 
Crown of Spain, but you can rest assured that the Government of the 
United States will not take advantage of this to deprive the Catholic 
Church of any property to which it may be entitled. 

A. Heretofore everything was left to the good faith of the people, 
because no one ever doubted that they did not belong to the church. 

Q. As to the properties which the order owned in the islands: First, 
what agricultural lands did your order own? 

A. The president is already apprised of the fact that the lands in 
Cavite, Laguna, Bulacan, and Bataan no longer belong to us. 

Q. I had not that in mind, and I would be glad to have you state to 



me again. 



CHUECH LAIRDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 53 

A. These lands belonged to us previously. 

Q. Can you tell me how man}^ haciendas you had in Cavite province ? 

A. Two; a little sugar cane was cultivated, but mostly all rice. The 
names of those two were Naic and Santa Cruz. Binan, Santa Rosa, 
and Calamba in Laguna. Lomboy, Parti, Orion in Bataan. 

Q. How many acres were there in the hacienda of Naic? 

A. The whole of them were about 50,000 hectares. 

Q. Can you give me approximate figures as to each? 

A. (Presents to the president a tabular statement containing this 
information.) On all of them generally rice is cultivated; in Laguna 
some sugar, and on some considerable timber. 

Q. (President examining statement.) Does this list represent all of 
the agricultural lands which the order owned in the islands except 
Orion ? 

A. Yes, sir; except a little sanctuary at San Juan del Monte. It has 
been stated around that we recently acquired these. Some of them 
have been ours for two centuries. Colonel Crowder has, by direction 
of General Otis, looked up the titles and he has seen them all. 

Q. Have you title deeds to all of these ? 

A. Yes, sir. This statement shows the pages from which they were 
taken, all properly drawn up and recorded. 

Q. How did you farm these properties before you sold them to the 
corporations ? 

A. On each hacienda we had one or two lay brothers who were the 
administrators. 

Q. Did the parish priests have anything to do with them? 

A. Nothing whatever. 

Q. Were they rented on shares? 

A. All farmed out; we did not cultivate anything. 

Q. Were they farmed on shares or on a monthly rental? 

A. They were farmed out this way: It was left to the will of the 
tenants to either pay in money or in rice, as he pleased— that is, rice 
lands. For lands cultivated with sugar cane they alwa^^s paid in 
mone3^ 

Q. Did vou have any tobacco lands ? 

A. No. '^ 

Q. Any coffee? 

A. A little. 

Q. You did not own any cattle ? 

A. In Santa Cruz we had a lot of cattle, but the insurgents carried 
them off'. 

Q. What did you do with the cattle? Did they graze on your own 
land? 

A. In Calamba and Santa Cruz there was a great deal of unculti- 
vated grazing land. 

Q. And you owned the herds? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. And the lay brothers saw to the grazing of them and then sold 
them in the markets? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. As to your tenants; did you permit one family to remain for 
several generations on the same piece of land? 

A. Yes, sir; way back to great-grandparents. At times these ten- 
ants would sulDlet to others the right to cultivate the ground, and at a 
good price, too. 



54 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. Did the tenants put in any improvements? 

A. No; in eveiy instance the corporation has made all the improve- 
ments, such as drainage canals, dams, and irrigation works. 

Q. Those were all put in by the corporation, the tenants did not 
put them in at all? 

A. No. 

Q. How about rice lands? Does it grow better each year? 

A. Yes, sir; it hardly needs an}^ fertilizing at all after a few crops. 

Q. Would not sometimes one famil}^ which occupied rice lands 
transfer its rights to another family, that is, sell out his right of 
tenancy to another? 

A. That was prohibited, but they often did that, sometimes with 
the consent of the administrator and sometimes without. 

Q. Was the tenancy regarded with such privilege that the person 
going in paid to the person going out any sum of money? 

A. The tenants themselves considered that a great privilege and 
charged sometimes as much as the property was worth. 

Q. So that they had among the tenants, without respect to the 
original order, what we call the tenant's right? 

A. Strictly speaking the tenant had no right whatever. Contracts 
were made for three years, and after that they were tenants at will. 

Q. But what I want to get at is the feeling and impression among 
the tenants themselves, not the legal rights. I mean, what was the 
right as between the tenants themselves ? They, I suppose, came to think 
that they might retain the lands as long as they chose in their family, 
and that that privilege of retention was a valuable privilege, and so 
regarded among them, and they sold that privilege from one to another? 

A. There is no doubt that these tenants held the privilege which 
they had at a very high value and they would get a number of acres. 
One man would go to the administrator and say, 1 will rent 20 acres 
and then he would sell that privilege of his, which was only for three 
years, at a high figure, and so long as he paid his annual rental he 
would not be disturbed. But there have been several cases in Calamba 
where the only persons they could look to for payment of the rent, 
the tenant, was ejected for nonpayment. They understood that they 
had no legal right to it after the three years. 

Q. They also knew that the custom of the order had been to give 
them this privilege continuously, and they relied on that themselves? 

A. Yes; that is true. So much was that the fact that sometimes a 
father who had 5 hectares and 5 sons would will those 5 hectares, one 
to each son. 

Q. Now, as to the sale of all this propert3^ To whom did you sell 
this property ? 

A. Mr. Andrews, with an obligation on his part to form an associa- 
tion and then to sell as man}^ shares of the stock as he could, and the 
order agreed to take as part pa3^ment the shares remaining in the 
company. 

Q. You were paid in shares, so that you own a majority of the 
shares of the corporation now? ' 

A. Yes. 

Q. Is there any agricultural property owned b}'^ the order not 
included here, and which is in the name of someone else? 

A. We did not own anything except what is in there, aside from 
this little sanctuarj^ at San Juan del Monte. 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 55 

Q. As to improved property the order owns in Manila or other 
cities for rental purposes? 

A. In Binondo we own a few houses. We did own a few here but 
they were destroyed by fire, and in the port of Cavite we also owned 
a few houses under rent. 

Q. Are they business houses or residences ? 

A. Residences. 

Q. You do not own any property on the Escolta? 

A. The houses which surround the Banco Espanol Filipino; all those 
on that block except the bank building belong to us. 

Q. Is not that very valuable propert}^ ? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. And since the Americans came it has risen in value? 

A. We have gone up very little in rents. 

Q. If you had American tenants, j^ou would? 

A. Some of them have leases for a number of j^ears. 

Q. I do not press the question, but I would like to know what prop- 
erty you own for the habitation of the priests, the members of the 
order, and for religious worship. 

A. The church and convent of Santo Domingo is used b}" the mem- 
bers. 

Q. Do you own that handsome building in Venetian colors overlook- 
ing the wall? 

A. No; that is the Augustinians'. We have the university just 
adjoining this building. 

Q. What is this building just opposite the ayuntamiento ? 

A. A nunnery. The College of Latron is also occupied by the 
Dominicans. We have a sanctuary and parsonage in Cavite in half 
ruins which still belongs to the order. 

Q. Have you in any other cities ? 

A. In San Juan del Monte a sanctuary. I have alread}^ spoken of 
that several times. There was a father living there, but now it is 
occupied by American troops. In Pangasinan we have a church and 
convent, a college in Dagupan, in Linguyan a college and house. All 
of those places last mentioned are occupied by Americans, and the}^ 
have not paid any rents so far. In Caga3^an, at the capital, we have 
a large college and two houses, which the Americans also occupy. 
That is all. 

Q. I am coming to some questions that I do not insist on your 
answering, but I put them because the archbishop said to me that 
the former commission had not been fair in its treatment of the reli- 
gious orders in that it did not give them an opportunity to be heard 
through their heads, and for that reason I put these questions; but I 
leave entirely with 3"ou whether or not 3^ou shall answer them. 

A. I shall be glad to answer any question and furnish an^^ informa- 
tion I can. 

Q. W^hat supervision was exercised b}^ the order over its members 
engaged in parish work? 

A. The first answer to that is that the order presented the names of 
parish priests to the vice-patron — the captain -general. The}- were 
subject to transfer from one parish to another under the order, or 
they could be removed from parish work or sent back to Spain at the 
pleasure of the order. They could be shifted around. 



56 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. Did 3^ou have an inspector or one of the .order who went around 
among the parishes to see how work was being carried on ? 

A. The order has always had great watchfulness over the parishes. 
The provincials made visits around the parishes, and in every province 
there was a vicar provincial who represented the provincial here. 
Before this time 1 was a provincial and visited all of Luzon. 

Q. Were cases of immoralit}^ among members of the order brought 
to the attention of the order and disciplined ? 

A. There has been a great deal of talk about immorality among the 
parish priests. Of course, undoubtedl}^, there may have been some 
cases where a priest has failed to carry out his vows, but those cases 
were alwa3^s brought to the attention of the provincial and investi- 
gated, and in case the charges were found well grounded they were 
chastised, either by separation from their office or removal some- 
where. The greater part of the cases have been exaggerations of some 
fault or made out of the whole cloth, because it seems that the people 
trump up charges against the priests so as to make them unpopular in 
the provinces. As a proof of the fact that these charges were not 
made by people who were imbued with great religious fervor or love 
of exemplary living, in nearly every case charges were brought by 
men against exemplar}^ priests who were always in the coterie of 
immoral priests, so to speak. 

Q. In the investigation, so far as I have been able to make it, I have 
reached the conclusion that the charges of immorality are not the real 
bases of the hostility to the priests, if that hostility exists among the 
people, and my conclusion as to that is based on the fact, as I under- 
stand it, that the present persons who are exercising the offices of 
parish priests, that against those persons charges of immorality might 
much more generally be brought than against the former parish priests ? 

A. Yes, sir. The Filipinos themselves say the same thing. 

Q. I have talked with Filipino priests and with Filipinos; and I find 
it pretty generally conceded that the Filipino priests in the islands are 
not well educated, and that the standard of morality among them is 
not high. 

A. They neither have the character nor the capacity nor the idea of 
morals that exists in a European. Now, you can notice in the clerg}^- 
men who are acting as parish priests, they do just what the local 
presidente wants them to do. 

Q. They are active politicians ? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Is not the danger to the church here in the fact that the order 
of intellect and education of the native priests is, to say the least, so 
moderate that the people will revert to idolatry and fetichism under 
the administration of ignorant Filipino priests ? 

A. Yes, sir; that is what is happening in the remote provinces, even 
where there are Christians. 

Q. What preparation was made to fit these priests in the matter of 
education before going to work in these distant parishes? 

A. After entering the order they studied for eight or nine years in 
the college in Spain prior to coming out here. 

Q. What preparation was made in the matter of languages ? 

A. When a new man was sent out to do parish work, he was sent 
with an older priest who had already learned the language of the 
people, to learn the customs, language, and habits. 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 57 

Q. How long did it take a bright man, such as 3^ou have in your 
order, to learn the language of the locality ? 

A. So as to treat with the natives on the outside, about six months; 
to perfect one's self to preach in it, some time. 

Q. But in six months the^^ learned enough to confess the parish- 
ioners ? 

A. Yes, sir. One of the proofs of the morality of the clergymen 
and of the orders lies in the character of the Filipinos themselves. 
Everybody will admit that the Filipinos, as a whole, are moral and 
religious, and they have had no teacher other than the members of the 
order to teach them — not only in religious but secular matters; and if 
the}^ were an immoral set, how could they have brought these people to 
this state 'i 

Q. It has been quite gratifying to me to understand that there is a 
very general chastit}^ among the women in these islands, but I have 
understood that while it is true that there is no general want of chas- 
tity among the women, there is among the people a feeling that a man 
and a woman may associate together for a definite time, if the woman 
remain faithful to the man, and regard that as a kind of marriage 
without the sanction of the sacrament; and that the same feeling, in 
how many cases I do not know, has seemed to justif}^ that kind of rela- 
tion existing between a priest and a woman. 1 just throw out that as 
a suggestion, and ask for your opinion on it. 

A. 1 do not claim that there have not been priests who have not, 
but the large majorit}^ of them have preached, not only by words, but 
by action, morality and religion. I think that the living together in 
concubinage of a priest and a woman is very, very rare. That there 
may have been some weak priests who have fallen once — they might 
be less rare. 

Q. An army oiBcer related this to me as happening in Ilocos Norte: 
He says that he now lives in the house of a woman who is entirely 
respectable, who would never be described as unchaste, who had two 
daughters, and who stated without hesitation and not as a badge of 
shame, that those daughters were the daughters of a padre who for- 
merly lived there but who now had been obliged to go away. Now, 
while of course that relation is deplorable, nevertheless it illustrates a 
very different state of society from that where there is promiscuous 
illicit intercourse, and illustrates that in the mind of the natives there 
is a very great difference between general unchastity and lo^^alty to 
one person. That is what I have gathered from persons with whom I 
have talked; that is what is in my mind from the evidence I have 
already gathered. 

A. I do not deny that there have not been such cases, but I do deny 
that there has been that promiscuous and general immorality on the 
part of the priests with which they have been charged. 

Q. While there is a very great difference between the United States 
and the Philippine Islands, I suppose that human nature is not alto- 
gether different here from what it is at home, and therefore those who 
do not take religion very seriously are ver}^ glad to seize individual 
instances of falling away by the priests, and are quite disposed from 
these few individual instances to make general charges against the 
whole class. 

A. My only answer is the same as before, that there may have been 
a few isolated cases of immorality, but nothing upon which general 
charges could be based. 



58 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. Was it possible under the Spanish regime for the parish priest 
to notify the captain general of the presence in the community of a 
dangerous character and to have him deported? 

A. The initial steps were never taken by the parish priests. That 
the Government would in some instances ask for a report on some of 
the people in the town, and that the parish priest very often did not 
reply to him because the gobernadorcillo would say to the man upon 
whom suspicion has fallen that the parish priest was tr3dng to get rid 
of him, was sometimes true. When the parish priest was asked about 
certain men and they found it better for the moral and healthy tone of 
the town they would send in such a report to the governor-general, 
but never without being requested. 

Q. And the governor-general would then deport him ? 

A. More often it was a case for the parish priest to intercede to pre- 
vent deportation than to carry it out. The priest often realized the 
fact that charges against one of their parishioners were based on no 
intrigue of the guardia civil and officers of the municipality, and they 
interceded in his behalf oftener than to have him transported. The 
parish priest was the father of the locality, and although very pleasant 
relations usually existed between the Spanish civil authorities and the 
Spanish priests there were cases when the priests had to take issue in 
behalf of some parishioners. 

Q. How many priests of 3^our order were assaulted by the revolu- 
tionists during 1896-1898? 

A. The only one we lost was the parish priest of Hermosa, in 
Bataan, who was assassinated. This is the only one. 

Q. Were any of them imprisoned? 

A. Everybod}^ became a prisoner. 

Q. Did not Aguinaldo keep a lot of priests in prison for some time 
who were subsequently released by the Americans? 

A. None of ours. One hundred and fifteen Dominicans were held 
prisoners for a year and a half in the provinces, from Julj^, 1888, till 
December last, when they were released. 

Q. How were they released? 

A. Because the American troops advanced and they let them go. 

Q. They were held by the insurgents? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Were any of them maltreated during that time? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Were they whipped ? 

A. Some of them were whipped and others they filled full of water 
with a funnel in their mouths. Some of them had their ankles bound 
together and tied in a position for da3'S. Billa and Le3"ba, the two 
most cruel men who have been in the valley of the Cagayan, who are 
both aids of Aguinaldo. 

Q. Is the bishop of Vigan a Dominican? 

A. Yes, sir; and this man Billa is the man who broke two sticks on 
the arm of the bishop. Nine have died during their imprisonment, 
mostly from bad treatment. 

Q. Do 3"ou think that the priests of 3^our order could return to their 
parishes and assume their sacerdotal functions? 

A. So far as the mass of the people in the northern part of the 
islands is concerned, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, there would be no 
trouble whatever. The only thing to look out for would be the arrival 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 59 

of some Katipunaii and his working up the people. In Batanes eight 
have gone back and they were well received and there are no American 
soldiers there. 

Q. Have an}" returned in the island of Luzon? 

A. These same priests who went to Batanes were a few days in 
Aparri and the people came down and asked them when they were 
going to return, that the}" wanted them to return. 

Q. Are any of the members of your order in Dagupan? 

A. No, sir. 

Q. But you have churches there? 

A. Yes, sir; all the province of Pangasinan was administered by 
Dominicans. 

Q. To what do you attribute the feeling against the members of your 
order generally, if it exists ? 

A. As a matter of fact, among the mass of people this hatred does 
not exist. It does exist among the Katipunans and here and there 
among the better class, but the whole reason of the hatred of this class 
against the priests lies in the fact that they were the bulwarks of 
Spain's sovereignty in the islands, and these people recognizing their 
loyalty to their Government say that in order to break down the sover- 
eignty of Spain it was necessary to cast odium upon the religious 
orders and have them possibly expelled from the country. 

Q. Do you think any feeling exists against them because of the 
immorality of its members ? 

A. No Indian has ever made a complaint of immorality on the part 
of a priest except in the case of revenge. When the provincial makes 
a visit they do not say a word. As soon as they have any little trouble 
with the parish priest then they will present a lot of testimony and 
report charges against the parish priests. 

Q. Is not it true that a good many of these tenants would be willing 
to have the land which they occupy for nothing, and do they not have 
the natural feeling which exists sometimes between tenants and 
landlords ? 

A. That feeling not only exists against the religious corporations, 
but against every owner of property. We have petitions from several 
of the pueblos in which the inhabitants ask us not to convey their prop- 
erty away, because they do not want to have anything to do with any 
other land proprietors but us. All they had to pay in the way of rental 
was about one-sixth or one-fifth of the value. Hence, in the towns 
where our haciendas were located, you would find better houses, better 
people, and more wealth. 

Q. I suppose it is true here, as elsewhere, that it is easy to cultivate 
among the debtors unpopularity for the creditors. 

A. Oh, yes; everywhere. 

Q. How are the members of your order at present supported? 

A. We have the savings of several years, and also the rental of houses, 
and a few other sources of income. 

Q. Did the insurgent government at Malolos pass a law confiscating 
your property ? 

A. Law, strictly speaking, no. They did put an additional article 
onto their constitution by the terms of which they appropriated all our 
property, but we paid no attention to that because we recognized here 
only two sovereigns— formerly the Spaniards and now the Americans. 

Q. Have not agents of that so-called government actually collected 
rents for the property owned by the corporation ? 



60 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

A. Yes, sir; they have taken charge of the haciendas and have made 
the tenants pay rent. 

Q. And rather higher rent than you were accustomed to collect? 

A. Yes, sir; the money they have made out of those lands has been 
a great element in carrying on the war for them. To take the hacien- 
das away from them now will be a hard stroke against the revolution. 

Q. If the insurgents had been successful, do you think you could 
have remained in the islands? 

A. We never even thought here that the revolutionists ever would 
be successful, and so took no steps. 

Q. But the controlling spirits in the revolution were very hostile 
toward you? 

A. Yes, sir; and if they had secured their independence we would 
have had to leave, not because of the common people, but because of 
these leaders. The mass of the people like us, but they do not know 
how to move — how to do anything at all. 

Q. Suppose the United States Government were to establish a pro- 
tectorate here, by which we should defend the islands against outside 
influence, but let the people take care of their internal affairs; how 
much protection to property would exist here ? 

A. We would have to leave. The people like us, but do not defend 
us, on account of their inaction. 

Q. Leaving out the question of the orders, how much protection to 
general property would there be in these islands under such a govern- 
ment ? 

A. If they had their independence it would be chaos. In four dsLjs 
they would be fighting each other — the different elements. The first 
thing would be that the half-castes with a little Spanish blood would 
want to get the power in their own hands, but would be overcome by 
the natives. The true backbone of the insurrection is the state of 
terror which the officers now in the field have forced on the people, 
who have been enlisted by terror to take up arms against the Ameri- 
cans; and, although I do not desire to give any advice to the American 
Government, I think that the only wa}'^ to settle the question is to 
bring a greater terror to bear upon them than that now imposed by 
the insurgent government. 

Q. Is not one trouble among the people a doubt as to the policy the 
Americans are going to pursue to retain control of these islands ? 

A. Partly that; but in a greater way the lies that are told in the 
provinces. Out there the idea prevails that Aguinaldo's forces are 
going to succeed. They tell of battles in which one hundred Americans 
are killed, and the people believe that. Here in Manila the half- 
educated people of the capital believe that the Government will give 
them their independence. If, last December, when the American troops 
made the advance toward the north, they had gone farther and more 
energetically, the thing would have been solved by this time, because 
the people in the towns, who were downtrodden and terrorized by the 
insurgent officers, want somebody to come and lift this burden from 
off them; but the American troops went a little ways north, and then 
went off to the coast towns. 

Q. How many members of your order have left the islands since 
1898? ^ . . 

A. Sixty-seven; forty-five to Spain and twenty-two to China. 

Q. None have gone to South America? 

A. No. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 61 

Q. I put a question suggested by a remark made by the archbishop 
that in 1898 somebody went to Rome and professed to represent the 
American Government, and proposed to buy all the property belong- 
ing to the religious orders here, and that Cardinal Rampola telegraphed 
to the islands to have an inventory made of the property which it was 
thus proposed to buy. Can you give me a copy of that inventory ? 

A. When the last commission was here they asked for it and it was 
given them, the same which was sent to RampoUa, but 1 will send you 
a copy of it. 

Q. What do you consider the value, generally speaking, of the 
agricultural lands of the Dominican Order? 

A. It is very difficult to arrive at. They may have increased or 
diminished in value. 

Q. What did you consider the value in 1896, before the revolution? 

A. It is hard to give any estimate; j^ou might say before, four and 
five millions in agricultural lands alone. 

Q. You have sold already to a corporation, but of course you con- 
trol that corporation because you hold a majority of the stock; there- 
fore you could for that corporation sell this property to the Govern- 
ment. 

A. All we have now, of course, is shares of stock. 

Q. Yes; but that majority stock gives you the right to control the 
the corporation; would you be willing to sell that to the Government? 

A. We have the obligation which we have complied with to sell to 
Andrews; the sale was made to Andrews, and he afterwards got up the 
company. 

Q. But with the understanding that he was to get up the company? 

A. That was one of the clauses in the contract — that he would form 
an association and that we would take a part of the stock. 

Q. Of course you know that the Government could take the prop- 
erty if it chooses; that is, for school purposes; that is, as thej^ say in 
the Spanish law, "expropriate," as we say in America, "condemn" 
it, paying its value. But it is a great deal better if we conclude that 
we need it to settle the matter out of the courts, for court proceedings 
involve expenses, and it leaves a better feeling to settle the matter by 
contract, and I would like to know if you are in a situation to arrive 
at an agreement if we want the propert}^ ? 

A. Besides the understanding we have with Andrews we would have 
to consult the Hoty See. 

Q. The Holy See has the good sense to trust to the discretion of the 
able head of the order who is here. It has been suggested — a Senator 
of the United States suggested it to me — that one of the means of 
avoiding the trouble which seemed to exist here was to purchase the 
property of the religious orders, and that if that evidence of their 
ownership was removed and the lands made Government propert}^ by 
the payment of money, a large part of the feeling against the orders 
would be removed. I only ask it with a view to bringing before the 
commission the exact state of the case so that we ma}" judge of that 
suggestion. 

A. The real reason why we conveyed our property to another party 
was to have nothing further to do with the administration of these 
agricultural lands and to remove that complaint which was made 
against us that the friars owned all the lands and were making all the 
money. 



62 CHUECH LANDS IK PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. I have no doubt that that was the purpose, but I do doubt if it 
will remove the entire difficulty if it became known that the friars 
owned the majority of the stock. I think it will be more effectually 
removed if the Government owned the property and sold it out in 
small parcels. 

A. The public see that we no longer have any ostensible ownership, 
do not administer it, and have no interference in its management. 
Besides that, whenever money was paid for the hacienda we would 
invest somewhere. . , 

Q. Yes, but don't 3^ou think you could get more returns than from 
these haciendas? 

A. We could not invest it here. 

Q. Suppose you withdrew from parish work altogether. I suppose 
you could find a lot of missionary work to do in these islands and 
elsewhere ? 

A. Yes, sir; we would have plenty of mission work. 

Q. Archbishop Chapelle has told me that many of the order were 
anxious to leave, and that they remained largely at his suggestion. 

A. Yes, sir; he has advised them to remain here. 

Q. There are two funds in the cit}^ the obras pias, and another 
obras pias called the miter fund. Has your order an interest in these 
funds 'i Do you draw an income in those funds which you administer 
in charitable work? 

A. We receive the donation or alms which are paid by parties for 
these obras pias, such as for saying mass. 

Q. Now, that money is paid in and forms a fund which is invested 
by the head of the order? 

A. These obras pias are composed in this wa}^: Spaniards who 
have died and left in their will instructions for so many masses to 
be said and the money. That money is partly placed in bank and 
they get interest on it. The money is paid out to the different reli- 
gious corporations to carry out the instructions in the will of these 
people. For instance, a man says he wants one hundred masses a year 
for the repose of his soul. They are paid for that out of this fund. 

Q. And that fund is managed by a corporation? 

A. There is a board of directors. 

Q. It is really a corporation ? 

A. It is managed by a board composed of the archbishop and a 
member from each of the other orders. 

Q. And from accumulations it is now a very large fund? 

A. I do not know how much, but I think quite large. 

Q. Two or three million ? 

A. No, sir; I do not believe the income from it is over thirty thou- 
sand a year for the entire amount. 

Q. Did not the obras pias build this building now occupied by the 
provost-marshal-general ? 

A. No, sir; it was constructed out of the miter fund. 

Q. Is not the miter fund the same kind of fund? 

A. It is composed of donations, but is managed by the archbishop 
in person. 

Q. But the income is distributed among the different orders for the 
same purposes? 

A. Yes, sir; they are about the same thing, except that the sacred 
miter is administered by the archbishop himself. 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 63 

Q. There is one more question: What is the income of the property 
of your order, both agricultural and otherwise; that is, in 1896? 

A. The income from the haciendas is shown in the pamphlet which 
I have given you. The rental of houses does not exceed thirt}^ thou- 
sand a year. 

Q. That included this property in Binondo ? 

A. Yes, sir; that is the principal source of income; the others do not 
amount to much. 

Q. How long have 3^ou owned that property ? 

A. The houses were built by us one hundred and fifty years ago. 

Q. But the rental from that has increased since 1896 ? 

A. I think it has gone up very little. The purpose is to have them 
go up because ever3^thing has become so dear. I have been informed 
b}' a banker that a good deal of money has been lent by some of the 
religious orders on hemp. They have not speculated in it, but they 
have lent the money and taken the hemp as security. 

Q. Have 3^ou engaged in that? 

A. No; we have not. 

(With expressions of thanks.) 

REPORT OF IKTERYIEW HAD BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE COM- 
MISSION WITH REV. JUAN VILLEGAS, HEAD OF THE FRANCIS- 
CAN CORPORATION IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

The President. I suppose }^ou understand that the questions which 
I sent to the archbishop, and which were doubtless shown to you, are 
questions which you are entire!}^ at libertv to answer or not. I pre- 
pared them with a view to covering the subject-matter which has been 
discussed publich^ and to give 3"ou, as representing the Franciscan 
Order, an opportunity to state j^our views concerning that matter. 

Father Villegas. I thank you for this meeting and for the oppor- 
tunit}^ given to us to replv. 

The President. When was yoiiv order founded? 

Father Villegas. It was founded b}" the Pope, viva voce, in 1210, 
and by papal bull in 1223. 

The President. When was your order established in the Philip- 
pines ? 

Father Villegas. June 24, 1577. 

The President. I suppose that its functions and powers under the 
papal authorit}^ are to be found in a number of papal bulls. 

Father Villegas. Yes, sir. 

The President. Generall}^ the object of the order is of a mission- 
ary character ? 

Father Villegas. Yes, sir; and to civilize the individual. 

The President. And they are charged with the dut}^ of enlarging 
the usefulness of the church in foreign parts. 

Father Villegas. Yes; and to preserve and keep in the faith those 
who have been converted. We have missions all over the world. 

The President. Have you la}" members as well as priests ? 

Father Villegas. Yes, sir; but only a few, relatively; they are 
mostly used for service in the houses of the members of the order. 

The President. How many priests did you have in the order in the 
Philippine Islands in 1896? 

(The reverend father stated that a pamphlet, or book, had been 



64 CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

prepared, giving this and much other data concerning the Franciscan 
order, but, not having been home since morning, he did not have it 
with him. A messenger was sent for the pamphlet; pending his 
return the conversation proceeded as follows:) 

The President. What political or civil functions did the priests 
exercise under the Spanish Crown in the parishes to which they were 
assigned ? 

Father Villegas. None; that is, except in so far as duties were 
intrusted to them, or required of them, by the Government, for the 
reason that the parish priest was the party in whom they had the most 
confidence. 

The President. I understand that. It is that actual authority which 
they exercised under the Government that I would like to have 
explained. 

Father Villegas. The following may be mentioned as among the 
principal duties or powers exercised by the parish priest: He was 
inspector of primary schools; president of the health board and board 
of charities; president of the board of urban taxation (this was estab- 
lished lately); inspector of taxation; previously he was the actual 
president, but latel}^ honorar}^ president, of the board of public works. 

He certified to the correctness of the cedulas— seeing that they con- 
formed to the entries in the parish books. They did not have civil 
registration here and so they had to depend upon the books of the 
parish priest. These books were sent in for the purpose of this cedula 
taxation, but were not received by the authorities unless viseed by the 
priest. 

He was president of the board of statistics, because he was the only 
person who had any education. He was asked to do this work so that 
better results could be obtained. It was against the will of the parish 
priest to do this, but he could only do as he was told. If they refused, 
they were told that they were unpatriotic and not Spaniards. If they 
had declined, they would have been removed from their charge. He 
was president of the census taking of the town. 

Under the Spanish law every man had to be furnished with a cer- 
tificate of character. If a man was imprisoned and he was from another 
town, they would send to that other town for his antecedents, and the 
court would examine whether the}^ were good or bad. They would 
not be received, however, unless the parish priest had his vise on them. 
The priest also certified as to the civil status of persons. 

Every year they drew lots for those who were to serve in the army, 
every fifth man drawn being taken. The parish priest would certify 
as to that man's condition. 

The President. That develops a new fact that I have not known 
before. They raised the army here, then, by impressment; it was not 
optional ? 

Father Villegas. All by ballot. Every year they would go to what 
they call the sacramental books and get the names of all those who 
were 20 years of age. This list being certified to by the parish priest, 
the names were placed in an urn and then drawn out. Ever}" fifth 
man was taken. 

The President. Was the service disliked by those selected, or did 
they regard it as an opportunity? 

Father Villegas. They disliked it. Many of them would take to 
the woods, and the civil guard would have to go after them and bring 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 65 

them back. They would be put in jail and guarded until the}^ could 
be taken to the capital city. There were many cases of desertion. 

The President. They never served an^^where except in the islands? 

Father Yillegas. Only in the islands? 

The President. Were they in the habit of having the regiments 
enlisted in one part of the islands serve in another part? 

Father Yillegas. All the men were brought to Manila and the 
regiments formed were very much mixed. 

(It developed that Reverend Villegas spoke with authorit}^ in this 
matter, as he had been curate for twenty years in the northern parts, 
and had been t wen t}^ -five years in the country, and always in the 
provinces.) 

The President. Were you always in one part of the islands ? 

Father Villegas. Yes; I was where Tagalog was spoken. Those 
who spoke Tagalog had to reside where Tagalog was spoken. They 
sent the priests to the different parts as young men to learn the 
language, and, having learned a particular language, he was left to 
labor among those who spoke it all his life. 

The President. How long did it take a 3^oung priest to learn enough 
Tagalog to confess a parishioner? 

Father Yillegas. In four or five months they could frequentl}^ 
understand each other perfectly; in from eight months to a year they 
could preach in the native tongue. They learned rapidl}^ as the}^ had 
no opportunity to speak or hear any other language. 

[Proceeding with the enumeration of duties of the priest:] 

By law he had to be present when there were elections for municipal 
offices. Yer}^ often the parish priest did not want to go, but the 
people would come to him and say: "Come, for there will be disturb- 
ances, and you will settle man}^ difficulties." 

He was censor of the municipal budgets before they were sent to 
the provincial governor. 

A great many of the duties I am now enumerating were given to the 
priests by the municipal law of Maura. 

He was also counselor for the municipal counsel when that body 
met. They would notify him that they were going to hold a meeting 
and invite him to be present. 

The priests were supervisors of the election of the police force. 
This also had to be submitted to the provincial governor. 

He was examiner of the scholars attending the first and second 
grades in the public schools. 

He was censor of the pla^^s, comedies, and dramas in the language 
of the country, deciding whether they were against the public peace 
or the public morals. These plays were presented at the various fiestas 
of the people. 

He was president of the prison board, and inspector (in turn) of the 
food provided for the prisoners. 

He was a member of the provincial board. Besides the parish priest 
there were two curates who served on this board. Before the provin- 
cial board came all matters relating to public works and other cognate 
matters. All estimates for public buildings in the municipalities were 
submitted to this board. 

He was also a member of the board for partitioning Crown lands. 
After the land was surveyed and divided, and a person wanted to sell 
his land, he would present his certificate and the board would pass upon 
S. D09. 190 5 



66 CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

the question whether or not he was the owner. This would be viseed 
by the board for purposes of taxation. When a private individual 
wanted to bm^ Government land he would apply to the proper officer, 
pay his mone}^, and the board would determine whether the transfer 
was according to law. 

In some cases the parish priests in the capitals of the provinces 
would act as auditors. In some of these places there would be only 
the administrator, and then the curate would come in and act as auditor. 

Besides the above there were other small things which devolved 
upon the priest. It might be said that there were times, however, 
when nothing of moment was done in the towns. 

The President. Was this before the Maura law ? 

Father Villegas. Yes ; very often they interfered in these matters 
for the benefit of the town itself. Of course the only thing intrusted 
to them was the spiritual welfare of the people, but they had to do this 
other work because asked to do so by the Government. 

The President. They were the best educated men in the town and 
men of force; indeed, the only class who knew how to conduct matters. 

Father Villegas. The parish priest did not learn business while 
studying theology, but after he entered upon his charge it was forced 
upon him. 

The President. I am told that one of the rules of the Catholic 
Church is that the existing civil authority is to be supported, and that 
it is a rule of your order as well. 

Father Villegas. Yes; it is a rule of our church, laid down by the 
Pope and by Jesus Christ. 

The President. Were all the members of your order loyal to Spain 
while it was sovereign of the islands ? 

Father Villegas. Yes, sir. 

The President. Were there any but Spaniards members of the 
order in these islands ? 

Father Villegas. The}^ were all Spaniards but one, a mestizo, who 
was born in the islands but was raised and educated in Spain. 

The President. The fact is, is it not, that the members of the Fran- 
ciscan Order were relied upon by the Spanish Government to maintain 
its authority in the parishes where the members officiated, and that 
there were many parishes where there were no soldiers, the priests 
being the only ones who represented the sovereignty of Spain ? 

Father Villegas. Yes; for two hundred and sixty years there were 
no Spanish soldiers here at all. 

The President. Did it not result by reason of this, that when the 
revolution came on those in favor of the revolution were hostile to the 
members of your order because they did represent the Spanish Gov- 
ernment ? 

Father Villegas. That is not the case so far as the Franciscans are 
concerned, for, when the insurrection broke out, the natives got them 
out of the way so there would be no trouble. Even the money they 
had in their houses was sent to them to Manila by the insurgents. 

The President. Were any of the order imprisoned? 

Father Villegas. In the first insurrection nothing happened to them. 
In the second (1898) some were imprisoned. 

The President. How many were imprisoned, and for how long? 

Father Villegas. Seventy-eight were imprisoned, some three 
months, some fifteen, and some have just came in to-day. All are 
now released. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 67 

The President. Will you kindly refer to your statement (brought 
by the messenger), and tell me the number of members of your order 
who were here in 1896 ? 

Father Villegas. In 1896 there were 21:0 members. 

The President. Does that include lay members ? 

Father Villegas. Yes, sir. 

The President. How many lay members were there as compared 
with the priests? 

Father Villegas. There were but eleven lay members. 

The President. How were the priests of your order supported dur- 
ing the time they acted as parish priests ? 

Father Villegas. Those in Manila connected with the Society of 
St. Frances were supported by what was left of the alms given to the 
parish priests in the provinces. 

The President. Did the Government pay any salaries to the priests ? 

Father Villegas. In the provinces they were paid salaries — what- 
ever the governor would apportion them. If there was anything left 
over from this it was sent to Manila to support the community of St. 
Frances. 

The President. What did those salaries amount to ? 

Father Villegas. From five hundred to twelve hundred dollars, 
according to the size of the town. 

The President. Then I suppose there were certain fees charged for 
the administration of the sacrament? 

Father Villegas. There was no charge for the sacrament, but 
where it was administered in connection with marriage there was a 
fee for the trouble of performing the marriage ceremony. These fees 
were for the church, for the choir, for the sexton, etc. 

The President. Did not the priest use any of this for himself ? 

Father Villegas. Yes, sir ; he had a certain proportion. 

The President. Were the fees to be charged fixed by the bishop? 

Father Villegas. By the bishop, and approved by the captain- 
general. 

The President. Who built the churches in which the members of 
your order officiated? 

Father Villegas. They were built with the revenues of the parish, 
by donations from the people and the priest. The governor also 
apportioned certain funds for church building. 

The President. And there were voluntary donations by the parish- 
ioners ? 

Father Villegas. Yes ; by the parishioners and by the priests them- 
selves. Some of the parish priests have themselves remained without 
a cent because they spent all their salary in building the church. 

The President. Were the churches built on a public square — 
usually on the plaza in the middle of the town ? 

Father Villegas. The governor would designate the spot where the 
church was to be built. 

The President. And that was on Government property ? 

Father Villegas. If it was anything but Government property it 
was paid for out of the funds of the church. 

The President. When you purchased land in this way, in whom was 
the title placed? 

Father Villegas. It was placed in the name of the parish priest ; 
but as parish priest, and not in his individual right. 



68 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

The Peesident. Will j^ou kindl}^ state what agricultural lands or 
haciendas your order owns in the islands 'i 

Father Villegas. We do not own any. 

The Peesident. Have you never owned haciendas? 

Father Villegas. No, sir ; we are not allowed to own them. It is 
for this reason that all the members of the order who live in Manila 
are supported by what is left over from what is given the parish 
priests. 

The Peesident. You did not own any property before 1895 ? 

Father Villegas. Only the houses in which we live. We do not own 
any suburban property at all. We have here in Manila, near Sam 
paloc, a convent or parsonage, a half convent at Santa Ana, and two 
infirmaries, one at Santa Cruz and one at Nueva Caceras. 

The Peesident. Do you own any property in the city of Manila, 
or in any other parts of the islands, used for rental purposes ? 

Father Villegas. We do not. We are not allowed to hold land. 

The Peesident. You own no property, therefore, except houses 
which are used by you to live in and churches used for devotional 
purposes ? 

Father Villegas. That is all. 

The Peesident. Is there farming land in connection with them? 

Father Villegas. Nothing but kitchen gardens. In the province 
of Albaya we had a college for secondaiy instruction, but that has 
been burned. 

The Peesident. When a priest was assigned to work in a certain 
parish, was there any rotation? Did he go to another town after he 
had , served in one for a number of years ? 

Father Villegas. There was no rotation. Some of the priests 
remained in the same place until they died. Some have lived in the 
same town for thirt}^ or forty years; elsewhere, as long as the people 
wanted them. 

The Peesident. Was there a supervision exercised over the priests 
engaged in parish work? 

Father Villegas. A supervision was exercised over them. The 
provincial visited every one of them once a year. 

The Peesident. Were cases of immorality ever brought to the atten- 
tion of the order and disciplined? 

Father Villegas. That was the very purpose of these yearl}^ visits 
on the part of the provincial. Besides this he had representatives in 
the province who kept a close supervision over these people. If found 
delinquent they would be punished, and even expelled from the order. 

The Peesident. Were there any cases of immorality; and if so, how 
many, speaking generally? 

Father Villegas. There have been cases, but they were rare. I can 
not tell how many. 

The Peesident. I do not ask the question to condemn you. A 
priest, living in this wild country, far removed from his home and 
people, is liable to fall. They are human. 

Father Villegas. That is understood. 

The Peesident. It has been said that one of the grounds for the 
reported hostility to the religious orders generalh^ has been the fact 
that there was immorality among the priests. What have you to say 
to that? 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 69 

Father Yillegas. They who accuse should prove. I do not believe 
that is the real cause for the hostility. 

The President. I do not believe it, either. 

Father Villegas. I have been a parish priest for a long time, and I 
can truthfully say that, as a matter of fact, the Indians have no com- 
plaint to make on this ground. It is only when they get angry that 
they make these accusations. One of the proofs of this is the general 
chastity of the Filipino women. They are what they have seen and 
what they have been taught. 

The President. I have been ver}^ much gratified to hear that the 
women of the Philippines generalh^ are chaste in their way. I believe 
it is owing greath" to the teachings of the church. But the Filipino 
women seem to have a little difierent idea of chastity from that which 
prevails in other countries. For instance, they do not always insist 
on the existence of the sacrament of marriage before living with a man. 

Father Villegas. I do not believe there has been much of that. 
When they do go to live with men in that way they know it is against 
the teachings of the church. 

The President. Has the example set by the Filipino priests in this 
respect been particularly good ? Is not the Filipino priesthood a dis- 
tinctly inferior set intellectually, both in matter of learning and in 
matter of morality ? 

Father Villegas. You are to judge of that. The commanders of 
the garrisons in the difierent towns can inform you. If the da}^ should 
ever come when the regular clergy should return to their parishes, 
then the commanders of the American forces can see and appreciate 
the difierence between the present priests and the former ones. The 
towns already remember. 

The President. It has been suggested to me, and it is a very strong- 
argument, that the charges of immorality brought against the friars is 
not the real cause of hostility against them, because an argument much 
stronger than that could be brought against the Filipino priests, yet 
they do not seem to share that hostility. If the people are so sensitive 
upon that subject, they have much stronger reason for it now. 

Father Villegas. The whole thing is a question of color. The 
Americans as well as Spaniards are getting it because of our color and 
features. 

The President. Was it possible under the Spanish regime to secure 
the deportation of any member of his parish by representing to the 
goA^ernor that the party was a dangerous member of society ? 

Father Villegas. No, sir. 

The President. Was this never done? 

Father Villegas. In our bodv it was never done. Sometimes they 
would ask for a report from the priest as to the standing of a party. 
Of his own motion a parish priest would never sanction a thing of that 
kind. The greatest trouble experienced by the parish priests with the 
€ivil authorities has been the protection of the members of their cor- 
poration from being unjustly used by the arbitrar}^ exercise of author- 
ity on the part of the governing body. 

The President. Will you be kind enough to state, generally, the 
parts of the islands in which the members of j^our order have officiated? 

Father Villegas. The whole of the island of Samar was ours, and 
about half of Levte. In the Cammarines there is nothing but Fran- 



70 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILirPINE ISLANDS. 

ciscan friars and the regular clergy; most of Luzon in the south, 
twenty-one towns in the province of Laguna. We have none in north- 
ern Luzon, except one town in Cayagan near the coast. 

The President. Do you think that priests of j^our order, assigned 
to parishes in the islands, could assume their sacerdotal functions now 
without danger of personal violence? 

Father Villegas. There would be no fear or trouble whatever if 
only the town people were concerned — if there were no orders sent 
from Manila. 

The President. Political orders? 

Father Villegas. Yes; the people who do not like us. Our own 
parishioners are coming here every day to visit us. 

The President. Do you communicate with your old parishioners ? 

Father Villegas. Yes, sir. 

The President. Does not the feeling seem to be mostly against 
those who own property? 

Father Villegas. There was something of that. Some fellow who 
was a little brighter than the others would say: ''That hacienda 
belongs to the father; we will kick him out and you will take half and 
I will take half." Now that the revolution has lasted quite a time, 
and there has been no division of the propert}^, the}" have begun to 
think nothing has been gained. 

The President. Was not the property belonging to your order 
respected longer than that of most of the orders ? For instance, the 
college that was burned. 

Father Villegas. The burning of that place was the act of an indi- 
vidual — of a secular clergyman; a Filipino, who is now a general in 
the rebel army. 

The President. What is his name ? 

Father Villegas. General Natera, a Spanish mestizo. 

The President. Up to that time, although there were insurgents 
about, they did not disturb other property ? 

Father Villegas. No; and they set fire to the college on the ap- 
proach of the Americans, so there would be nothing there when the 
Americans arrived. 

The President. How many of your order have remained in the 
islands ? 

Father Villegas. After the capitulation of Manila a great many 
left; some had left before that time. Onl}^ 82 are now in the islands. 

The President. Where did the others go ? 

Father Villegas. They all returned to Spain, and from there were 
sent to South America, to Cuba, and two were sent to China. These 
latter were up the river beyond Shanghai, and are now cut off. 

The President. Is your order largely represented in China? 

Father Villegas. There are quite a number. 

The President. Did the insurgent government at Malolos pass any 
law against your order, or against ^^our property? 

Father Villegas. The only thing it did was to concede liberty to 
the priests who were imprisoned, but the law was not carried into effect 
at once. 

The President. Did not the parliament at Malolos pass a law con- 
fiscating the property of the religious orders ? Did this apply to your 
order or properties ? 

Father Villegas. Not having any property, it did not affect us. 
The question of funds and property has never troubled us. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 71 

The President. There is one other question 1 want to ask. Has 
your order any interest in the Obras Pias? 

Father Villegas. No interest. 

The President. None of the revenues are distributed to you? 

Father Yillegas. All that we have is such as is given to us in the 
way of alms, as is given to the poor. 

The President. Have you a representative on the board of the Obras 
Pias? 

Father Villegas. The third order, which is not composed of 
anointed priests, has a representative on the board, but they do not 
belong to our order. 

The President. Is the third order a Franciscan order? 

Father Villegas. While related to the Franciscans, they do not 
belong to the order. 

The President. Does this third order own any propert}^ ? 

Father Villegas. Yes, sir. 

The President. Do they own haciendas ? 

Father Villegas. They own property as private individuals. 

The President. But they have a representative on the board of the 
Obras Pias? 

Father Villegas. Yes, sir. 

The President. Out of the income received by the Obras Pias they 
receive a part of the mone}^ ? 

Father Villegas. Yes; they receive something from the Obras Pias. 

The President. Does the third order give you anything ? 

Father Villegas. The}^ give us a small donation. They also give to 
maidens who have no dowr}" to get married, who belong to the order, 
and to 3^oung men to go to school, etc. For instance, I am a private 
individual and die; in my will I leave $100 to be distributed at the rate 
of $2 a 3^ear to the poor. The mone}^ is placed in the bank, and out of 
the proceeds $2 is paid every year. The mone}^ is apportioned out, 
and we get a certain portion. The corporation itself is entirely for- 
eign to it. 

The President. I am very much obliged to you for coming to see 
me, and for the interesting facts which j^ou have communicated. I am 
sorry to have taken so much of your time. 

Father Villegas. It has been a pleasure to us to meet you and to 
tell 3^ou what we knew. We are entirely at your service, and will be 
glad at any time to furnish you whatever information is within our 
power. 



August 2, 1900. 

THE ORDER OF AUGUSTINIANS— THE VERY REVEREND JOSE 

LOBO. 

Q. I am very much obliged to 3^ou and the father for coming. 

A. There is no reason for it whatever; we are glad to give you any 
information we have. 

Q. How old is your order? 

A. We are the first ones that came here with the conquerer, 
Legaspi. 

Q. Not in the 

A. From the fourth centur}^, named after the great Agustin. 

Q. When did the order come to the Philippines? 



72 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

A. In 1565 — that is to the island of Cebu — we came to Manila in 
1571, the foundation of the city. 

Q. Are its powers and functions contained in one instrument, or in 
a number of papal bulls? 

A. After the approval of the order b}^ the Pope, there was a consti- 
tution made for the order, and that constitution we have now, but it is 
a very large book and is written in Latin. 

Q. And it has been amended from time to time ? 

A. Corrections are made in the constitution. 

Q. Now, I presume the constitution authorized j^ou to do mission- 
ary work and enlarge the usefulness of the church? 

A. Yes, sir; we are organized for missionary work. Manila is the 
principal point, and from here we have organized various departments. 
(Gives the president a book of the order in the Orient.) 

Q. Has the order lay members as well as priests ? 

A. Yes, sir; quite a few — about 21; that is, there were 21 at one 
time. Now there are about 8 or 10. 

Q. How many priests had the order in the islands in 1896 ? 

A. Three hundred and eighteen priests, including lay members, those 
studying to become priests, provincial priests, and those in Manila. 

Q. I shall also find in this book which you have kindly given me a 
list of the cities and towns in which the Augustinians had parish 
priests. 

A. Yes, sir. In Ilocos Norte and Sur, Union, Pampanga, Bulacan, 
Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, 9 in Manila, 7 or 8 in Batangas, one-half the 
island of Cebu, Iloilo, Antingua, Capiz, and the district of Conception. 

Q. What civil or political functions did the priests of your order 
exercise under the Spanish Crown in the parishes over which they pre- 
sided ? I do not mean what was written in the law, but the actual 
functions which they discharged ? 

A. The provincial, whoever he might be, was the adviser of the 
administration. Whenever he desired to leave the town he asked per- 
mission of the captain-general or governor of the province. The 
priests intervened or took part in the election of local presidentes; in 
the levy of soldiers; they also formed schedules that indicated the 
names of all the individuals who were subject to taxation; they took 
part in the inspection of schools; in public works. They exercised 
these functions by order of the governor of the archipelago or by 
order of the Government of Spain. 

Q. One of the rules of the church, as I have heard it expounded, 
and doubtless of your order, is that the existing constituted authority 
shall always be respected? 

A. The law of the gospel is that everyone shall pay due respect to 
the organized government and to all laws that are in existence. 

Q. And the members of your order were loyal to Spain during the 
revolution ? 

A. Yes, sir; every one of them. 

Q. I omitted to ask whether you have any natives in j^our order? 

A. No; all Spaniards. We had in the past century a few natives in 
the order, but they did not prove very efficient and we let them go. 

Q. Was it not a fact that in a greater part of these islands there 
were no Spanish soldiers and no Spanish police to maintain the sov- 
ereignty of Spain? 

A. There were very few Spanish soldiers here, the priests in each 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 73 

province being a sort of a colonel, and at the time I came there were 
7,000 or 8,000 native militia. 

Q. So that in a great majorit}^ of towns where the parish priests of 
your order officiated, those priests were really the only representa- 
tives of Spanish sovereignty? 

A. The priest was the only Spaniard in a great many of the towns. 
I myself have exercised priestly functions in four or ^ye cities where 
I have been the onh^ man with a white face. 

Q. Did not this fact arouse against the members of 'your order the 
enmity of those engaged in the revolutions of 1896 and 1898 ? 

A. Yes, sir ; that is a fact. Rizal, Bloomentil, Gregorio del Pilar 
(now dead) began a movement against the friars, knowing ver}" well 
that if they removed the pedestal or foundation of sovereignty of Spain 
in these islands that at that moment the whole structure would topple 
over, and in their secret order thej^ began a movement against the 
friars, creating a bad feeling against them. 

Q. How were the priests of your order acting as parish priests 
supported ? 

A. As there was unity between the church and the state ; the state 
gave to the parish priests certain compensation, and beyond this the 
church had fixed tarifi's — for instance, from singing; the people in some 
cases making them presents, and between these sources of revenue 
they maintained themselves. 

Q. In 3"our order how large a salary was paid to the priests by the 
Government ? 

A. They were organized into three classes; the first received ^1,200 
per annum; the second, S800, and the third, $600, and then you must 
deduct from that 10 per cent, money that was returned to the Gov- 
ernment. 

Q. That is, the Government paid out a salary and then took part of 
it back? 

A. This 10 per cent tax was imposed on all salaries, not only the 
priests but the military department, to fight any revolution. It was 
a temporary afi'air. 

Q. You received fees for christening, for burials, and for marriages ? 
How were the amounts fixed ? 

A. The priest himself charged nothing for the rite of baptism, except 
that he received the tribute of one-eighth of a dollar, and this money 
went to the funds of the church. It did not become the personal prop- 
erty of the priest. For marriages he received $2.25, but out of this 
he had to turn into the funds of the church the eighth portion of $2, 
being the sum of 25 cents; and the other 25 cents he also had to turn 
in, therefore he had remaining the sum of $1.75. For the burial of a 
child the fee was 75 cents; for the burial of an adult, $1.50. These were 
the tarifi's that were imposed as a rule, but if the person to be married, 
or if the relatives of the person to be buried, desired greater services, 
more music, more ringing of bells, then we levied a special fee. 

Q. Who built the churches and the conventos in which the priests of 
your order officiated as parish priests ? 

A. These edifices were constructed from the funds of the church. 

Q. That is, funds of the particular parish ? 

A. Each parish had its own particular funds, and from these funds they 
were constructed. In times gone by tributes were levied called " dies- 
mos," and from these funds edifices were constructed. It happens that 



74 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

in all countries acquired b}^ Spain, in Mexico, in South America, this 
' ' diesmos " tax has been imposed for the purpose of erecting edifices ; 

but Pope suppressed the levy of this tax, and recently a tax 

called "santorum" has been levied. I can not be certain that the 
Pope suppressed this, but I know that he gave the kings authority to 
impose the ''santorum." These funds were placed at the disposal of 
the parish priests. The bishop exercised general authority, but there 
were certain funds each parish had. 

Q. Now the " santorum," or what was before that the "diesmos," 
was a contribution levied on the people of the parish to build the 
churches. Was that a voluntary contribution, or was it a regular tax? 

A. All Catholic residents of the parish were required to pay it. 

Q. And they were all Catholics? 

A. Yes, sir; it was a special fee imposed on all Catholics of the 
parish. 

Q. Now, coming to the twelfth question, what agricultural proper- 
ties did the Augustinian order own in the islands ? 

A. At the present time it owns two small haciendas, one in Angat 
and the other in Guadalupe. But this one in Guadalupe is a very 
small affair, and can hardly be called a hacienda. The one in Angat is 
also very small. 

Q. How much propert}^ had 3^ou before the revolution of 1896? 

A. In 1893 we sold the greater portion of our propertj^. 

Q. To whom were the}'' sold? 

A. To a Spanish corporation. I think there was an Englishman in 
the corporation. 

Q. And you took as part pa3^ment stock in the new corporation ? 

A. Yes, sir; we have more than half the stock. 

Q. Now, if you will go back before 1893, 1 would like to know what 
agricultural lands you owned? 

A. A great many and very good ones. Here in Manila we had 
three or four good ones. Taking all the acreage we had, cultivated 
and uncultivated, probably 60,000 hectares throughout the archipelago. 

Q. Can you distribute that acreage ? 

A. The large one was in Cagayen, 20,000 hectares, called "St. 
Augustin Colony." This hacienda is in the province of Isabela, but 
it is generally called Cagayen. Tobacco alone was raised, but coffee 
and sugar could be raised. Only a small portion was cultivated. 

In Cavite: San Francisco de Malabon, 13,000 hectares, cultivated in 
rice and sugar. 

In Manila: Malinta, 12,233 hectares; Mandaloa, 4,033 hectares, and 
Monte Lupa, 2,556 hectares, cultivated chiefly rice. 

In Cebu: Talisay, 6,645 hectares, sugar and rice; a great deal of 
sugar. We had a plant and machinery. There were two parcels of 
land, but they were under one name; simply one administration of the 
entire property. 

In Bulacan: Two small haciendas under rice cultivation. Angat, 600 
hectares; Quingua, 987; and Guinto, 900 hectares. 

Those I have mentioned do not belong to us now, except the ones at 
Angat and Guadalupe, of which I first spoke. 

Q. Are there any others you have sold except those mentioned here? 

A. Yes, sir; one called Pasa}^, 480 hectares, was sold years ago to 
Warner, Barnes & Co. 

Q. And you have no interest in that ? 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 75 

A. No, sir; it was an absolute sale. This includes all the property 
we now own or have owned. 

Q. How were these properties farmed when j^ou owned them; how 
did you get income from them? 

A. We cultivated the lands, and on properties that were dry we 
built ditches and canals and irrigated all the property. For instance, 
at Malabon we spent $4,000 in the building of ditches and dams. 

Q. Now, did you rent that propert}^ after improving it or did you 
farm it yourselves ? 

A. We rented out the estates to different tenants, but generally 
these rentals did not amount to more than one-half what ordinary 
individuals paid for other properties. 

Q. Did the same tenant continue to use these parcels, and did it go 
down in the family from one generation to another? 

A. Yes, sir; the property went from father to son, and thej retained 
possession for many years, and there were great efforts made to secure 
these properties. 

Q. And suppose a family that had such a privilege desired to sell it, 
were they able to do so? 

A. They could not without the permission of the administrator, 
because we would expose ourselves to the possibility of someone 
coming in who would damage the property. 

Q. You retained the control to say who should be tenants, but was 
not the privilege of being a tenant on certain pieces of land regarded 
as valuable, so that that privilege was sold by one to another, provided 
the consent for the transfer was obtained from the administrator? 

A. They always retained possession of these properties after once 
securing them because they received more benefits from this property 
than from occupying other property. 

Q. I fear you have not made my question clear to the father. (Re- 
peats question.) 

A. Of that I can give 3^ou no particular information because I have 
not been on the haciendas, but I will say that without the consent 
of the administrator he could not sell, but if he secured the consent of 
the administrator he certainly could. 

Q. Who collected the rents? Was it the parish priests in the imme- 
diate neighborhood, or did you have persons especially delegated for 
that particular purpose ? 

A. In Angat there is a native of the town that collects the rents; 
in San Francisco de Malabon it was a lay member; in Malinta a lay 
member; in Mandaloa a lay member; in Quingua and Guinto the same 
parish priest received and collected the rents because they were small 
places and the natives were very good in pa3ang their rents. 

Q. How long had the order held these various estates before they 
sold them? 

A. The oldest records are those that were made in the sixteenth 
century. We have some of the eighteenth. In the year 1877 the cor- 
poration acquired possession of the hacienda at San Francisco de Mala- 
bon by purchase from the Count of Avelache and various other owners, 
and another portion of this same estate was acquired from Mons. 
Cazal by exchange of property. 

Q. Those were purchases, and not benefits? 

A. Yes, sir; we have bought all of our propert3^ Very few pieces 
of property have ever been given to the corporation. 



76 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. Now, this estate in Caga3^en. Have you held that for a long 
time ? 

A. I wish to except the estate in Cagayen, for this property was 
ceded to us b}^ the Government of Spain on the 25th of April, 1880, as 
will appear from royal order of that day. We spent an immense 
sum of money on this estate and have had but slight returns for it. 
We have cleared up the lands, and it has been placed in a state of 
cultivation. 

Q. Now, Cagayen was ceded in 1880; San Francisco de Malabon in 
1877. Now, how about these estates in Manila? 

A. These four in Manila are very old; Malinta in 1745, and a por- 
tion in 1833. 

Q. Were these purchases? 

A. Yes, sir; all purchases. 

Q. Mandaloa? 

A. One-half of the property was acquired by an exchange of prop- 
erty from the Dominican fathers. We exchanged an hacienda with 
them for this property in the year 1692; another portion of it was 
acquired by purchase in 1654, and still another portion was acquired 
by purchase in 1675, and another small piece was secured in 1699. 

Q. Monte Lupa? 

A. Purchased in the vear 1665 by the corporation. 

Q. Cebu? 

A. Purchased in the year 1734. 

Q. Quingua? 

A. Purchased at public auction in 1834. 

Q. Angat? 

A. The date does not appear in the record, but it appears that part 
of it was secured by purchase and part by exchange. I believe it was 
in the century past, but I am not sure. 

Q. Guinto? 

A. Possession acquired in 1754 by purchase. 

Q. How much is the estate at Guadalupe ? 

A. It contains 85 hectares, part acquired by purchase and part 
through pious donations. 

Q. What property, whether improved or not, did you own in the 
city of Manila for rental purposes ? 

A. We own the convent of the sixteenth century. It is the most 
solid structure in the Philippines — the church and convent. The one 
with the bridge across the street. The buildings on both sides are 
ours. W^e have 30 members of the order living in this house, and 
just as soon as I am able to decrease the number under my care I 
want to sell this house. I am very anxious to sell it. The first house 
is ours, but just adjoining is the house of the Jesuits. The bridge 
communicates 

Q. I understand you to say that you own no improved property of 
any sort in Manila for rental purposes ? 

A. No. 

Q. Do you own any vacant lots in the city ? 

A. The lot in San Marcilino only. It contains 29,516 square 
meters, bought by the corporation in 1883. It was bought for the 
purpose of erecting an orphanage asylum. 

Q. Do you own an}^ improved property in other cities in the 
islands ? 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 77 

A. In Cebu we own some lots, but the rents are very small. We 
have a magnificent structure in Iloilo that cost $150,000, but at the 
beginning of the present trouble it was taken possession of, and now 
it is used as a barracks. 

Q. Was that contemplated for a habitation for monks? 

A. It was built for the purpose of teaching, to be a sort of college, 
and when it was finished the war with America came on, and this 
structure being out of town was not burned, and it is now occupied by 
American troops. They are no more. 

Q. As to the custom of the order in retaining the same priest in the 
same parish, was there rotation, or was a priest allowed to remain in 
the same parish until he died or was superannuated ? 

A. No, sir; j^oung men started out by taking small parishes, and as 
they grew older better parishes are given, and when they get old so 
that they are unable to perform their duties they retire to Manila. 
They have better parishes as they get older. 

Q. How much education is required before the members go out to 
take a parish; I do not mean theological education, but what knowl- 
edge of the language of the country are the^^ required to have? 

A. Their theological education is received in the course of nine or 
ten years, but their linguistic education the}^ receive b}^ going to the 
parish with a priest who knows the language of that parish and learn 
the language from him, and at the end of five or six months the old 
priest sends in a document stating that this young man knows the 
language and is qualified to be the priest of the parish. 

Q. How long, ordinarily, did it take an average priest to learn the 
Tagalog or Visayan dialect? 

A. About eight months, on an average, for preaching and taking 
confessions. 

Q. Was there an inspector in your order who went about among the 
parishes each year to superintend and supervise the work of the parish 
priest? 

A. In each province there was a provincial vicar aside from the 
general vicar here in Manila who had charge of all the work in the 
district. 

Q. Was his knowledge such that if a priest had been guilty of immo- 
rality he would know it; I mean openly living as man and wife? 

A. Anything like that as you state, notoriousl}^, of course he would 
find it out, but anything secretly of course would take time to find 
out. 

Q. I do not mean to press these questions, if you do not desire to 
answer them, but in talking with the Archbishop he said it was not 
just or fair not to call upon the orders to give them an opportunity to 
say on these general subjects, if they desire it, what was the truth, and 
it is with that in mind that I ask the question ? 

A. There is no need of making a secret of anything. 

Q. Have cases of immorality in parish priests been disciplined by 
the order? 

A. Whenever we have been able to prove that he was living with a 
woman in the way you have indicated he has been chastised, but there 
have been cases where we were unable to prove it. 

Q. Was it possible for parish priests under the Spanish regime to 
secure the deportation or imprisonment of a man on the ground that 
he was a menace to the sovereignt}^ of Spain or a dangerous man in 
the communit}^? 



78 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

A. Such a thing was possible, but instances are rare where the mem- 
bers of the religious orders promoted the deportation of anyone. In 
the thirty years that I have been in the archipelago, I believe that the 
cases will not exceed two in each department. Generally, it can be 
said that there were many men that remained here who were to be 
deported, through the efforts of the priests, more than those who were 
sent out by the priests; the priests interceded with the governor-gen- 
eral for them. 

Q. What do you think about the charge that the hostility felt toward 
the members of 3"our order and of the others is in part due to the 
immorality of the parish priests? 

A. The most immoral ones are those who have received the protec- 
tion of the chiefs of the revolution. Just at present I have three 
apostates who have done immoral acts and they have been doing what 
they could to promote the revolution. It would appear that those 
who are under the direct influence of the revolutionary chiefs are the 
most immoral ones. 

Q. They are renegade Augustinian monks ? 

A. Yes, sir; three renegades that were favored by the revolutionary 
chiefs. 

Q. What is the moral condition of the native priests who have 
stepped in to take the place of the Spanish priests ? 

A. They are like the other powerful natives of the country, ordi- 
narily they are very immoral, and they are exciting and helping the 
revolution. Of course there are a few exceptions. 

Q. Is not the danger of the church in the fact that the standard of 
both religion and morals in the Filipino priests are such that the peo- 
ple may go down to idolatry and fetichism? 

A. There is a danger, but I hardly think it will go to that extreme. 

Q. What do you think would happen, assuming that the insurrec- 
tion were suppressed and the people came in, should the priests of 
your order seek to return to the parishes to which they were origi- 
nally assigned? 

A. As soon as the Government of the United States has established 
its laws and there is personal security, so that a person is able to go to 
these towns, I can state that the people are anxious to receive their 
priests back; the people are anxious to receive their priests back in 
their old parishes. 

Q. Are you in communication with the people back in the parishes? 

A. Yes, sir; we receive many letters from them. A great many 
from the various provinces I have mentioned come here and visit us 
and tell us about what is going on and say that we can go back at any 
time, but at the present time there is no personal security, and the 
whole thing is controlled by the Katipunans. 

Q. How many priests of the Augustinian order were assaulted dur- 
ing the revolutions of 1896 and 1898 ? 

A. Fourteen were killed and 119 taken prisoners. Four of them 
died in prison of natural diseases. At the beginning of the insurrec- 
tion in 1896 three fathers were imprisoned and after a short time the}^ 
were foully assassinated by Bonifacio. These three are included in 
the fourteen. Two were assassinated at the beginning of the revolu- 
tion in Cebu ; three in the uprising in Ilocos Sur; five in Bulacan, one 
in Mexico in the province of Pampanga. 

Q. Were the 119 prisoners maltreated? 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 79 

A. The revolutionists believing that the priests had a great many 
valuables, some of them tortured them to see if by this means they 
would not reveal their whereabouts. As a rule they received many 
gifts and things to eat from the Indians, and afterwards they were 
well treated. At the beginning they were badly treated. 

Q. I think you have answered the question as to the cause of hos- 
tility against the priests, but I ma}^ ask again whether you attribute it 
to the political position that the priests necessarily occupied in the 
parishes representing the Spanish crown. 

A. The Government of Spain in the Philippines can be compared 
to a round table having but one leg, and that leg in the center of the 
table, the friar here being the leg and the sole support of the main 
body of the table. The heads of the Katipunan organization, realizing 
that to tumble the whole structure it was necessary first to destroy 
the foundation, began this disturbance by calumniating the friars, 
telling lies about them, and for this reason the hostility arose toward 
the friars; but the Katipunan heads were the only ones that really had 
any hostility toward the friars, as is proven by the fact that the peo- 
ple in the parish are anxious for their return. 

Q. How many members of your order are now in the islands, and 
where are they living ? 

A. One hundred and forty, and they live in these two houses we have 
talked of. In Hongkong we have six or seven studying English, 
and in Macao we have twenty-six or twenty-seven. Originally we 
were three hundred and eighteen, as I have stated. 

Q. Considering those killed and those remaining in the islands, 
how many have left here, have gone back to Spain, to South America, 
or elsewhere ? 

A. Since the year 1898 there have left, to Spain ninety-eight, to 
Macao twent3^-six, to the Chinese missions in the province of Hunan 
three, to the Republic of Colombia ten, to Brazil eight, Peru five, Hong- 
kong six. The total of those who have left the islands is one hun- 
dred and fifty-six. There may be an error or so, but this is approxi- 
matelj^ correct. 

Q. They are at present supported, I suppose, in Manila here by the 
funds of the order ? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Did the insurgent government at Malolos pass a law confiscating 
the property of your order ? 

A. Yes, indeed; they passed many laws confiscating everything we 
had. 

Q. Did they attempt to collect rents from those haciendas that are 
held by the corporations to whom you transferred your property ? 

A. I can not state as to that, but I suppose that they did. 

Q. At least that was the case with respect to the Dominican estates; 
so I am informed by Mr. Andrews, to whom they were sold? 

A. Yes, sir; I suppose that is true, but with reference to our own 
property I can not state positively. 

Q. Can you tell me the value of your agricultural property — the 
60,000 hectares — before it was sold — just a general estimate? 

A. The haciendas possessed by the Augustinian fathers were the best 
in the Philippines. I can not tell you exactly — some millions — possibly 
ten or twelve millions. If sold at a time when we had peace and prop- 
erties were good, they would be worth a great deal more. 



80 CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. Can 3^ou give me the income from those haciendas ? 

A. The total rental we secured in the year 1891 amounted to $150,000. 
Of course these properties were never rented at the figure we could 
have obtained, as we charged considerably less than others. 

Q. Do 3^ou think that the corporations that own the property now 
would be willing to sell to the Government? 

A. Yes, sir; they do not desire to administer the property. They 
are willing to sell in my opinion to the one offering the most. 

Q. Does your order insist on doing parish work, or would you be 
be willing to do missionary work alone ? 

A. Whatever the pope or apostolic delegate says. 

Q. I have understood, I think, from the apostolic delegate that the 
members of the orders would prefer to go elsewhere, but that he had 
detained them ? 

A. Whatever is commanded, whatever is ordered. 

Q. Now about the ' * obras pias. " How large a share of the obras 
pias did your order obtain? Does it vary or is it fixed? 

A. I am the president of the board myself, and we only handle 
$90,000, a very small amount, and we, as an order, secure nothing from 
this fund. 

Q. But I suppose when there are sacraments to be performed by 
reason of requirements in wills of deceased — masses to be said — that 
they assign that work to the different orders and a certain amount is 
paid to the order for performing that service? 

A. Well, suppose that a person dies and leaves $1,200 so that masses 
should be said. This money goes to the province where the sacraments 
are performed. For instance, in a certain province so much money is 
left, then so many masses are said. 

Q. Have you a large amount of money lent out here on hemp and 
such things? 

A. No. 

Q. The miter, I believe, is administered by the archbishop? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. And he assigns the work to be done under the provisions of that 
fund? 

A. We have charge of the pios fund, and works that are erected, 
edifices constructed, by the miter fund — we have charge of those 
works. That is the board of which I am president. 

The President. Expression of thanks. 

The Provincial. We are always glad to give you any information 
that we have, and you may rest assured that the information we give 
you — those that wear the cassock — will be the truth, and you will find 
out at the termination of your examination that what information we 
have given you has been more reliable than what 3^ou have procured 
from the meztizos. 



August 2, 1900. 

RECOLETOS— PROVINCIAL VERY REV. FRANCISCO ARAYA. 

When was your order first organized? 
The order was founded in the year 1602. 
When did it first come to the Philippines? 

In 1606, four years after its foundation, and it has been here con- 
tinuously since then. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 81 

I presume that its functions and powers in the church are defined by 
a charter or constitution granted b}^ the Pope ? 

In the year 1602 the constitution under which the organization was 
founded was approved b}^ Pope Clementine the Eighth. 

And that constitution with amendments established it as a religious 
order within the Catholic Church for the purpose of enlarging the 
work and doing missionary work ? 

Yes, sir; under the constitution approved by the Pope the order is 
a religious one, having in view the civilization of people who require 
or need it and the Christianizing of all individuals. 

And 3^our work lies chiefly along missionar}^ lines? 

Yes, sir. 

Have you branches of your order in other parts of the world besides 
the Philippines ? 

We have a college in Spain to educate the young men, enabling 
them to join our order. We have also a college in the United States, 
and they are sent here as a general rule. We have the head of our 
order in Rome, but of course above him is the Pope. We are doing 
missionary work in Panama, Republic of Colombia, Brazil, and in some 
other South American countries. 

Has the order lay members as well as priests? 

We have about nine lay members here. 

How many priests had the order in the islands in 1896, before the 
revolution began? 

In 1896 we had 313, and of this number 26 were lay members. 

And this book, to which reference has been made, I presume, con- 
tains a statement of the towns and villages in which 3^ our members 
officiated as parish priests? 

Yes, sir; and I present it to you with pleasure. 

What civil and political functions did the priests of your order 
exercise in their parishes under the Government of Spain ? 

The priests of their own will exercised no political functions, but at 
the request of the authorities they exercised msnay functions. For 
instance, they might obtain the number in a settlement who should pa}^ 
taxes; they also might formulate a census; the}^ also might send a 
report to the governor as to the number of legal actions that had taken 
place in the courts of first instance there. 

Did they ever exercise judicial functions at all? 

No, sir; they exercised no judicial functions, but when the authori- 
ties wanted to know about an}^ criminal acts the}^ would send to the 
" little governor" and then go to the priest for confirmation. 

Did they have any duty in connection with enlisting men for the 
army ? 

No, sir; those who formed the army here would appear to do so by 
chance. They had cards and drew lots to see who should form the 
army, and the priest supervised that drawing. 

W^hat part did thej^ have in the administration of the schools? 

They were local inspectors that visited the schools and found out 
after careful investigation as to whether or not the teachers were per- 
forming their duties properly and whether or not the children were 
attending. 

Were they called in as advisors in matters of public works? 

Speaking of government works, there have been few performed in 
the islands. Outside public roads there have been none, and in tliat 

S. Doc. 190 6 



82 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

reports were asked of the parish priests as to whether the work was 
performed according to specifications. 

In how many towns in which your order officiated as parish priests 
were there soldiers or other people representing the Crown of Spain 
beside the priest? 

Soldiers, they had none; recently they had a sort of civil guard. 

That guardia civil was a bad thing ? 

Yes, sir; they abused their privilege. The institution is a good 
one, but they abused their authority. 

Was not it a fact that for a great many years in these islands the 
parish priests represented Spain, the Government, in all that there 
was of law and order in the parishes ? 

Absolutely. Up to the year 1879-1880, when they sent this guardia 
civil; — seven or eight men in each town — the}^ had no one to represent 
the Spanish Government outside the priest. At the capital of the 
different provinces they had a few soldiers, but outside that none. 

So that any hostility to the Crown of Spain among the people was 
against the priest as representing the Government of Spain? 

Absolutely. There has been no resentment and no ill feeling or 
hostility against the priests whatever up to the time of the revolution, 
and that feeling has germinated right here in Manila and has been 
spread through sources here in Manila. 

But the revolutionists, those active in getting it up and those who 
sympathized with them in their attacks on Spain, did cultivate a hos- 
tility against the priests because they represented the power of Spain. 

There was really no feeling in the provinces against the priests, and 
as I have said before, this feeling was spread by the heads of the rev- 
olution, by those who had political aspirations, and something to gain 
by a revolution. A great many of them came from Manila. They 
formed or were a part of the Spanish Government — that is, clerks, some 
of them in the courts — and they went to the small towns, and knowing 
a little more than the simple country people, they spread rumors 
against the priests, and the priests made efforts to protect the people 
and this brought up hostile feeling. 

How were the priests of your order supported when the}^ acted as 
parish priests? 

They were supported by the stipend paid by the Government and 
also by the tariff's and by the charges imposed upon burials, marriages, 
and baptisms. 

This stipend varied, as I have understood, from |500 to |1,200, 
according to the size of the parish ? 

Yes, sir; and 10 per cent is deducted. 

As to the charges, who fixed the amount of those charges? 

The bishop determined the rates or charges, and those rates had to 
be approved by the governor-general here. 

The tariff for marriage was %2, one-eighth of which was for the 
church fund; burial for adults $3.50, out of which the priest received 
$1. 50 and the rest was paid out to others taking part in the ceremony. 
For christening 12i cents, leaving the priest nothing, because the can- 
dle cost 6 cents and the paper on which he had to record the fact that 
the child had been baptized cost 5 cents. 

These were fixed rates, but there were other charges depending 
(entirely on the amount of work involved and the extent of ceremony. 

Who built the churches in which your priests officiated ? 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 83 

The Government was charged to erect edifices for public worship; 
but the Government, being so poor, was negligent, and it compelled 
us to build the churches out of church funds. There was a church 
erected in Manila that was built from the proceeds of an hacienda, 
and the churches on the outside were built by funds belonging to the 
church and by the aid of day laborers who gave their labor. Some 
of these funds were taken from the " anctorum" fund. 

The church in the parish was built either by contributions or by 
the labor of the parishioners of that parish. Isn't that true generally? 

The parishioners generally gave the funds to build the churches, 
because the government was poor and gave nothing. Sometimes, of 
course, where the parish was poor, then the bishop donated certain 
funds. 

When you speak of the churches you include the conventos also ? 

Yes, sir; that is the house for the priest. The people, realizing and 
appreciating the fact that the church was a benefit to them and would 
improve the moral condition of the people, donated their services free 
of charge. For instance, in a church where I officiated the people 
went 6 miles to bring the lumber out of which to construct it. 

What agricultural lands or haciendas does your order own in the 
islands ? 

We had one in Mindoro called San Jose, 23,666 hectares. This 
hacienda is about to be sold. We also have on this hacienda a herd of 
cattle. The insurgents have taken a great many — just how many we 
do not know. 

Is this only a grazing estate, or did you produce rice or tobacco ? 

A small part was under rice cultivation. At present time none is 
cultivated. 

Are you to sell it to a corporation ? 

A representative of the order has made an agreement to sell to an 
American in Madrid, Mr. Christy. 

Is that Mr. Christy to form a corporation ? 

He is the representative of a corporation. 

And in that new corporation I suppose the order is to obtain some 
shares of the stock? 

The sale has not yet been concluded, of course, but an absolute sale 
is contemplated. 

How many and what haciendas did the order own before 1896 ? 

The hacienda in Inmus was sold to a corporation in 1894, in the 
province of Cavite, 11,000 hectares. It was sold to a Spanish corpo- 
ration organized to develop agriculture in the Philippines. 

Now, in that corporation I suppose that the order owned a majority 
of the stock? 

This Spanish corporation in turn sold this hacienda to an English 
corporation called British Manila Corporation Company, Limited. 

Was not a Mr. McGregor the representative of this company ? 

Yes, sir; Mr. McGregor is the representative of the English com- 
pany, and he has come here to see the estate, and I believe some docu- 
ments have been sent to the Washington Government and in turn 
forwarded here to General Otis; but of that I do not know. 

Now, in that English corporation the order owns how much, stock? 

Yes, sir; it owns stock. 

In other words, this establishment of a corporation was for the pur- 
pose of interesting other people in the property and at the same time 



84 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

of enabling the order to obtain a regular income and be relieved from 
the burden of collecting the rents and managing the property ? 

The sale has been made absolute. 

Yes, but of course if you own a majority of the stock you obtain 
control of the corporation? 

The sale to the English corporation was absolute. 

Yes, but does not the order have some stock in that corporation ? 

I can not say definitely what proportion of stock we own, but we 
own a certain proportion. 

Was that property improved? 

A large proportion of it was under cultivation with improvements, 
many ditches, many dams. A large house that we had has been burned, 
but at the present time there are shacks in which Americans are living. 

Is that the house in which the priests were killed? 

Yes, sir. 

When did you acquire possession of this estate? 

In 1686. 

Had this property been owned by the Jesuits before this ? 

No; the Jesuits had nothing to do with it whatever. The property 
belonged to Dona Maria. She had inherited the estate herself. 

And she gave it to the order ? 

The property was mortgaged for $9,000 and that indebtedness was 
assumed and besides the sum of $12,500 was paid. A gentleman by 
the name of De Camos represented the corporation and paid the sum of 
$21,500, the church assuming that. 

Did you own any other property which you have sold in the same 
way? 

A piece of property— the name being San Nicholas — was donated to 
the church at one time, but under a decree of the general government 
a public auction was held, and the order bought it in full for $27,500 
in the year 1812. 

Have you spent money in improving that property ? 

In dams and canals that have been built for carrying water we have 
spent more than a million dollars. There are 45 dams. The house 
was a magnificent one. There were also 3 warehouses. We had also 
constructed underground ditches. The greater portion in rice culti- 
vation; a little sugar. 

Had you any other hacienda except that of Imus which you have 
sold? 

The hacienda of Monte Lupa possession, acquired in the year 1695 
for $12,300. This is a small hacienda, probably 600 or 800 hectares; 
I do not think it will reach 1,000, but a greater portion was not culti- 
vated. This was sold in 1897. 

Was it sold to the same Spanish company ? 

No; it was sold to a Spaniard in Manila. 

Where did you get the estate of San Jose? 

There are two parcels that constituted this hacienda, one was ob- 
tained by royal order 619 of May 15, 1897, and the other portion, 
consisting of 1,664 hectares, was acquired by purchase on the 15th 
of July, 1894, the sum paid being $43,250. The hacienda de Talajala, 
in the district of Morong in the lake region. The property originally 
belonged to a French subject and was heavily encumbered with debts, 
and he not being able to meet his obligations, the chief creditor, the 
chartered bank, became possessed of it on August 12, 1896. The 



CHURCH LAia)S IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 85 

order also being, a creditor purchased from the bank in 1897 the 
hacienda for the sum of 150,000. This was sold March 16, 1900, to 
Don Juan Ma. Poizat, an agreement of sale having been made some 
time before for 166,000, but we lost in the transaction because we had 
spent many thousands in developing the property. 

How many acres were there ? 

The records do not show the number of acres that it contained, but 
I believe it had somewhere in the neighborhood of 4,000 or 5,000. I 
can say there were 3,000 under cultivation. 

Were there an}^ others? 

No others. 

It is true that this order did not receive any of the property of the 
Jesuits, which was confiscated when they were expelled from the 
islands? 

Absolutely none. 

Now what propert}^ have you in lands and in improved property in 
the cities held for rental purposes? 

The order owned quite a number of properties, but those from which 
rental is received are those in Cavite, the property in Cebu being a 
convent. 

But didn't you own some vacant property in Manila? 

None. 

And no rental property ? 

None. The properties in Cavite are rented. 

How much did 3"ou own in Cavite ? 

There are seven pieces of propert}" from which we secure rent, the 
total rent amounting to $350 a month. We have an agent who has 
charge of this property and he gives us $350 a month. If he makes 
anything I am not aware of it. 

You have deeds for all this property ? 

At the time of the blockade of Manila the insurrectos destroyed all 
the records and the titles, and at the present time we are investigating 
the records and getting therefrom titles to the property from the old 
original documents. 

This property you have had for a long time? 

For at least two hundred years. 

And are the}^ still held by the order or have they been conveyed to 
the Spanish company that took the Imus hacienda ? 

They belong to the order. 

Now, is there any agricultural property that is held in the name of 
someone else that really belongs to the order ? 

Nothing. In the town of Bakolod, in Negros, we purchased a lot for 
the purpose of erecting a college, but up to the present time it is 
vacant. 

To change the subject: I would ask if the priests of your order were 
in the habit of remaining in the parish to which thej were assigned 
for a great number of 3^ ears. 

They were under the direct control of the superior, and if he con- 
sidered it advisable to order them away to some other parish he would 
do so. 

Was there an officer of the order who traveled about to the various 
parishes and made himself familiar with the conduct of the parish by 
the priest assigned to it? 

Depending upon the size of the province, there were one, two, or 



86 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

three officers who went around and inspected and made a report to the 
head vicar of the province about once in three years. Of course, some 
of the provinces were quite large, and it took quite a while to inspect 
all the provinces. Some districts it took four months to make an 
inspection. 

Now, I am going to ask a question or two on a subject that neither 
of us cares to go into, and I do not press the questions. You do not 
have to answer them if you do not choose to, but I think you wish to 
answer them as I wish to ask them. Are cases of immorality by mem- 
bers of your order assigned to parish work brought to the attention of 
the head of the order and disciplined? 

There has been a great deal of talk about this matter 

I want you to speak as fully as you will. 

But I can say to you truthfully that the cases have been very rare, 
and this has been due to the conditions existing where a parish priest 
lives, due to the fact that they were isolated. I can attribute it to that 
fact. 

I want to give you an opportunity to answer the charges made gen- 
erally as to the fact whether a great many members of the order have 
been immoral, and what you know about it. 

Take, for instance, in Romblon, in Mindoro, in Paragua ; these 
islands are widely separated and without communication, without social 
intercourse whatever, and naturally enough the priests there were dis- 
satisfied and disgusted, and cases have been where they have lived an 
immoral life. 

These cases, though, have been very exceptional and rare, and the 
moment that the superior became cognizant of the fact they were 
brought here to Manila and after an investigation, if found guilty, were 
chastised and reprimanded. The moment that communication or inter- 
course in these islands became more frequent that moment the cases 
became fewer, and now they are very rare indeed. But that is not the 
basis of the calumnies that are hurled against these priests, because he 
was appreciated more by the people who lived in the neighborhood if 
he lived in this manner. No complaint has ever been made of a priest 
who lived an immoral life. Instead of that the people have sympa- 
thized with him to a greater extent than before, for the reason that if 
the curate or priest lived a dissolute life they in turn secured more 
liberty and they could do as they liked. The Katipunans found no 
objection to his method of living, because they could then do what they 
liked without interference from the priest, and for this reason there is 
more sympathy existing between the people and curate if he leads an 
immoral life than otherwise. The basis or bottom of all this talk and 
lies and calumny is the fact that in all these little towns a head or chief- 
tain of the organization known as the ''Katipunan Society" is to be 
found, and he generally goes to the curate and makes effort to secure 
favors, and when the curate denies him the favor — generally to bor- 
row mone}^ for they are nearly always broke — from that moment com- 
mences all the talk and disturbance. Cases have been recorded where 
this head or chieftain has formulated a petition and had this petition 
signed by a great many of the residents of the town and forwarded to 
the vicar, making charges therein of immorality on the part of the 
curate, and when the vicar demanded the presence of the curate in 
Manila the people changed their minds and requested him to stay. 
That is the manner of the Indian — to-day he is of one mind, to-morrow 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 87 

of another. 1 make this point for the reason that I do not want you 
to pay too much importance to what the Indian tells you. 

Are you generally familiar with the character of the native priests 
who have moved in and taken the places of the friars ? 

They are very bad men, very bad. In most cases the least number 
of wives one is satisfied with is three, and they are at the head of the 
revolution in these towns where they are. 

Would not that seem to refute the charge that the cause of the hos- 
tility against the friar is immorality — that is, that immorality does not 
seem to arouse the hostility of the native against his own native 
priests ? 

That is not the basis of their hostility. That is clearly evident when, 
as I have indicated to you before, they appreciate a man who is immo- 
ral, when he lives in these vile conditions. 

Was it possible under the Spanish Government for a parish priest 
to secure the deportation of any man in his parish by recommending 
to the governor-general that he was a bad man and ought to be 
removed? 

No, sir; but the curate, being an instrument of the governor, filed 
reports with the governor as to the conduct and life of those who lived 
in his parish. The governor-general, being the head of the Spanish 
Government in the islands, sent to the curates for reports to various 
persons and the curates in turn filed reports with him. 

And the governor-general in turn acted on these reports? 

The reports had to be made and were compulsory from the"f act that 
the governor-general requested of the vicar a report, and he in turn 
the bishop and the bishop the curate, and whether or not he wanted to 
make the report it was practically compulsory. 

Do you think the priests of your order could go back to the parishes 
where the}^ were before and assume their sacerdotal functions with- 
out fear of personal violence, assuming that the American army will, 
in a reasonably short time, end the insurrection ? 

Yes, sir; that would be a very easy matter, indeed, for the reason 
that the people living in these towns are anxious for the return of the 
priests from the fact that the native priests, who are there now, are 
ver}^ much despised and hated by the people. 

How do you know this? 

The bishop of Jaro, who is now here with us, has letters that are 
simply horrible, indicating the actions of these native priests and 
showing the desire of the people to have the Spanish priests return to 
them. The native priests now, of course, having no head, do as they 
like. It is a good deal like an army without a head. 

How many priests of your order were assaulted during the revolu- 
tion of 1896 and 1898. 

Twenty -five of our priests were assassinated. There are three causes 
that may explain this large number: The first being that in Cavitc the 
revolution began and the priests who were in the interior had no time 
to make their escape. Those who lived close to the sea made their 
escape, and the very priest who had charge of the parish in which 
Aguinaldo lived was delivered of the insurrectos by Auginaldo him- 
self, he furnishing the means of escape, a boat being placed at the 
disposal of this priest by Aguinaldo himself; and Bonifacio, who was 
the instigator of these crimes, was in turn killed by Aguinaldo for having 
killed these priests. Fourteen killed in the province of Cavito; in 
Bataan, 2; Zambales, 7; Tarlac, 1; Cebu, 1. 



88 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

How maii}^ were imprisoned? 

The great number of deaths among the priests can be explained awa}^ 
also by another reason. The fact that the priests when they saw that 
there was no remed}^ joined the army and necessarily ran the same 
risks as the soldiers. There were 91 prisoners. 

That is, joined the army of Spain? 

Yes, sir; the precise nmnber has never been determined. 

Were any of the prisoners maltreated ? 

Out of 40 that were imprisoned in Negros 3 of them were maltreated 
and assaulted. The rest of them were made to work in the prison; 
those that had been in prison in Negros were given their liberty at 
the expiration of three months; the rest of the priests who have been 
in prison have received their liberty whenever the various towns in 
which they have been imprisoned have been taken by the Americans. 

Did you have any priests to join the insurgents? 

Thank God, not a one. 

The Augustinians had three renegade priests. Do you know whether 
the}^ are the only ones in the islands ? 

We have one who is in a town that is now in the hands of the insur- 
gents, but he takes no sides whatever and performs his regular duties. 

Is the bishop of Jaro a member of jonr order? 

Yes, sir; the bishop of Vigan, a Dominican; the archbishop, a 
Dominican; bishop of Cebu, a Franciscan; bishop of the Camarines, an 
Augustinian; the administrator of the Camarines is an Augustinian; 
and the bishop is sick in Spain. 

•How man}^ members of your order have left the islands since the 
revolution began ? 

In the year 1896 we had 343 members, 26 of which were laymen. 
Since 1898, 173 have left for Spain, 21 to America, and 8 to Macao. 

Then there were 25 killed? 

Yes, sir; there are 94 here at the present time, and the difference 
between this number and 343 have died. 

Did the insurgent government pass a law confiscating your prop- 
erty ? 

I can not answer that question positively, but it was generally 
stated, I believe, and published in the newspapers that laws affecting 
not only our property rights but the property right of all the relig- 
ious corporations were passed. 

Have not agents of the insurgent government been collecting rents 
from the tenants of jour former estates? 

We have heard that, and we know positively that with reference to 
the propert}^ at Imus some of the heads of the revolution have been 
charging not onl}^ what we charged but a great deal more. This I 
can not say as positively true, but we have heard it. 
; It is true that your order is desirous of leaving the islands, but that 
you have deferred vour departure at the suggestion of Archbishop 
Chapelle ? 

We have been anxious to leave, but the Pope at Rome has given his 
order and there is no recourse except to obey. 

You would be entirely willing to do missionar}^ work instead of 
parish work, I presume? 

The functions are the same and it would make no difference to us. 
Of course the missionaries have work of lesser importance to perform 
than those in charge of parishes, but it would make no difference to us. 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 89 

I suppose you have a representative on the board that administers 
the funds under the " Obras pias?" 

We have what is called a "vocal," somebody to represent the order. 
He in conjunction with the others disposes of this fund, but they are 
limited to certain kinds of work — charitable institutions and religious 
edifices and things of that kind. 

What relation is there between the Recolectos and the Augustinians? 
Were the Recolectos originally a branch of the Augustinians ? 

Yes, sir; they are called the bare-footed Augustinians. 

What is the meaning of the word ' ' Recolectos ? " 

It is taken from the verb ''to recover," "to regain," "to bring in," 
"to do missionary work." 

Then the Recolectos sprung out of the Augustinians ? 

The Recolectos are a branch of the Augustinians, and they sprung 
from them from the fact and for the reason that the Augustinians led 
a gay life. 1 am not saying that they were bad men, but their spirits 
were very high, and for that reason the Recolectos sprung from them — 
not because they were bad men and we good men, but because their 
spirits were high and fiery. Our original ancestors or fathers were 
Augustinians. We follow the same rules that thej^ follow, but they 
have their own head and we have our own, but they in turn are subject 
to the orders of the Pope at Rome. 

In the paper you have there (pointing) have you the tracing of 
your titles? If you have no objection I would be glad to keep that as 
a memorandum. It has been freely charged, apparently, by men who 
have very little knowledge on the subject, that you have no title to 
the land which you have heretofore enjoyed the usufruct of. I want 
to report on that issue, and it will assist me to have the data contained 
in that paper. 

With pleasure. We appreciate your kindness in this respect, indi- 
cating to us your desire to do us justice. 

Expressions of thanks. 

Adjourned. 



August 4, 1900. 

CAPUCHINO— PADRE ALPHONSO MARIA DE MORERTIN. 

How old is your order? 

Since the fifteenth centur3^ Properly speaking the order dates 
from the thirteenth centur3^ W^e are the same as the Franciscans. 
The 29th of November, of 1209, the formation of the body was 
approved. 

Are you organized for missionary work like the other orders ? 

Yes, sir. 

Has the order lay members, as well as priests ? 

Yes, sir. They are the same as the fathers, with the single exception 
that they are not ordained. In ever}^ other particular the}^ are the 
same, living the same and wearing the same habit. 

How many lay members and priests were there in the islands before 
the revolution of 1896? 

Very few, because our field of labor was not in the Philippines, but 
in the Carolines, but we had a house here for the purpose of assisting 
in any missionary labors. 



90 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Can you give me a general idea of the number? 

Ten, up to 1896. 

How many are there now ? 

Six. 

Did they do any parish work? 

No; we only arrived here in 1886. 

There has been no hostile feeling against your order at all, has 
there? 

It has not reached my ears. 

You own no property, I presume, except the house in which you 
live? 

The house where we live only. I have a quasi-property title to 
a small piece of land just beyond Malate, which was given to me 
by word of mouth by some friends, but no legal documents were 
drawn up, and consequently it has not been recorded and the propert}^ 
still remains in the name of the donors, but whenever I desire it the 
title will be conveyed to me. It is only a little garden with a very 
small house, and at the outbreak of the trouble with the Filipinos they 
destroyed the little house. 

I have not heard any charges of an}?- immorality brought against 
any member of your order, and therefore I will not touch on that 
subject. 

Yes, sir; many thanks. 

I might ask you if you can tell me the reason why there is a diifer- 
ence of feeling against 3^our order as against the larger orders which 
have been here for a long time. 

There may be many reasons, but I will endeavor to reply as to my 
opinion. The first reason would be that the few take up a very little 
space, whereas the many would cover a great deal more. But I do 
not believe there really exists the hatred and hostility that the Fili- 
pinos would make believe exists against the religious orders as a 
whole. 

Don't you think that such as does exist arises largely from the polit- 
ical power which the old orders exercised by reason of the fact that 
their members were parish priests and represented throughout the 
country very largely the government of Spain, in a civil way ? 

I do not believe so, because the political functions exercised by them 
were very slight. 

But is not it a fact that in most of the towns of the Islands where 
they officiated there was no representative of the Government of Spain 
except the parish priests ? 

That might very well have been the case, but still there was a civil 
authority there even though he might have been only a native. The 
two authorities, civil and ecclesiastical, were never combined. 

Was it not a fact that the captain-general relied greatly on the 
padres, and kept putting on additional duties of various kinds of a 
civil character upon the padres ? 

On the contrary, he was always reducing them. The padres took 
part in what might be termed "mixed matters," such as school mat- 
ters. He was inspector of schools, acd he was one of the members 
of the board of election. He was an inspector to preserve order 
more than anj^hing else. It must be remembered also that he per- 
formed these duties because the government ordered him to, and not 
because he interfered, seeking the authority. 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 91 

It might be termed unofficial action; for instance, about 1897, after 
the other revolution broke out, I received a private and secret letter 
as superintendent of the order from the governor-general, which let- 
ter was also sent to all parish priests throughout the archipelago, 
in which it said that whenever the parish priests believed that it would 
be proper to remove some local officer of the government they 
should apprise the governor-general of the fact with the reasons 
therefor, but on the other hand the same kind of a letter was sent to 
the governor of the different pueblos telling him if there was any rea- 
son for having the parish priests removed they should also inform him 
him of the fact. 

Expression of thanks. 

Adjourned. 

August 4, 1900. 
BENEDICTINOS— PADRE JUAN SABATER. 

How long has your order been here ? 

From 1895. 

How many were there in the order in these islands ? 

Eight padres and 6 lay brothers. Afterwards up to 17 priests came 
and 11 lay members. 

Are the}^ here now? 

Now 8 priests and 6 lay brothers. 

Do you own any property here ? 

Only the house in which we live and the chapel. 

I have alwaj^s had more or less of an interest in the Benedictine 
order because when I first went on the bench in a State court at Cin- 
cinnati, I had to consider the question of the ownership of the trade- 
mark for the Benedictine liqueur. The person that was forging the 
trade-mark claimed that the person who asserted the right to it had 
no right to it in that he said that the liqueur was made from a receipt 
made by the Benedictine order. But they proved that the liqueur was 
made not by the Benedictine priests now, but according to a receipt 
which the Benedictine order had followed in making their liqueurs some 
eighty years before? 

At the time of the French Revolution, when the Benedictinos had to 
leave their place, they sold their receipt, and that is the one now being 
followed. For that reason you still find on the trade -mark the arms 
of the abbey, which of course could not be counterfeited. 

I supported that. 

Very often they endeavor to counterfeit it. I know that the French 
manufacturers of that liqueur send agents all around Europe to find 
out if it is being counterfeited. I wish your order was getting some 
of the monej^ being made out of it. 

The fact is our order does not care for it at all. We have another 
receipt, which we do not care to exploit. In Spain we have been told 
that the other receipt would be a gold mine, but we only manufacture 
a little for our own use, and do not put it on the market. It is as 
good as the best grade of Benedictine; but if we manufactured it and 
put it on the market the people will say we are not following religious 
vocations, but are merchants. 

But you might have a royalty on the trade-mark without selling the 



92 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

liqueur. We have a sajdng in America that would appl}^ to this, espe- 
cially where the fathers would use the mone}^ to the best purposes, 
that ''Money does not smell.'' 

For instance, take the place of the monks that manufacture the 
Grande Chartreuse. The}^ live very modestl}^ and do not need any 
mone}^, and they payout of the proceeds of that liqueur 1,000,000 francs 
a year to the Hoh^ Father, and all the roads and other improvements 
around the place where they live are paid for hj them, and all the 
money is given to godly work and public improvements. And also 
what the French Government receives by way of taxation. That is 
why they have not been fired out of the country. Once the prefect of 
that district went to Chartreuse, and the fathers had heard that they 
were going to be expelled, and they found the prior of the monastery 
studying ver}^ intently the map of England, and the prefect asked, 
"What are jon doing?" He said, "We are studying a place to move 
to;" and he said, "No, you must not go." 

He did not want to kill the goose that lay the golden Qgg: 

Expression of thanks. 

Adjourned. 



August 4, 1900. 
ST. VINCENTE OF PAULIST. 

I think you have very few members in the islands ? 

Very few, 38 in the entire archipelago. 

How old is your order? 

From 1625. 

How long have you been in the Philippines ? 

Since 1862. 

Your functions are of a missionary nature ? 

Missionary and seminary work. 

Have you a school here ? 

We have one theological seminary elsewhere, and other seminaries. 

Where are they located ? 

In Nueva Caceres, Cebu, and Jaro. 

These are seminaries of secondary education ? 
' Yes, sir. 

They take young boys and carry them clear through as the}^ graduate ? 

Yes, sir; in the third I mentioned that is the course. 

Have any of the members of your order acted as parish priests ? 

No; not up to the present time; but now we have some parish priests 
since February of last year. 

But you had none before the revolution ? 

None. 

That will shorten a great deal the question I wish to ask. 

How many did you say there were acting as parish priests now ? 

Two only, in the same parish. 

Does the order own any agricultural property in the islands ? 

We own nothing in the islands except the house in which we live 
and a garden. 

You own the house in which you have the seminary? 

No; only the house on San Marcelino and a little garden. The rest 
belongs to the prelates of the church. 

If these circumstances were the same in respect to all the orders, I 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 93 

would not be bothering any of the others. Isn't it true that there is 
no feeling of hostility against your order among the people of any 
kind? 

So far as we know there is absolutely none. 

And there would be no difficulty about the members of your order 
going anywhere about the islands? 

No; so far as I know. 
^ Were any of them imprisoned or assaulted during the re 
H tion ? 

S None. 1 was there for a year and a half whe 
(£ cans came, and I was not molested; and those do 
I, ceres have been there two years and have not 
% and Cebu the same way. 
^ I would like to ask if you can tell the 
"S no hostility against 3"our order and 
^ feeling against the larger orders 
ft Now I do not press that question 
o the information? 

The reason is because 
on the one hand, and on the other hand because we have not come in 
contact with the Masons, who are the real element against the order. 

Is not the real reason this — that you have not attempted to exercise 
political power and have not, in the sense the other people have, repre- 
sented the Government and the sovereignty of Spain in many civil 
functions ? 

That undoubtedly had great influence, because we have not exer- 
cised any political functions whatever. That is the principal reason. 

I wish we had fifteen hundred of your order. 

We are very few. 

Have you not a branch of your order in the United States ? 

Quite a number in the United States — New York, Philadelphia^ 
New Orleans. 

Can not you induce them to come out here ? 

I think it is difficult. We have not enough people over there. The 
learning of the language of the natives is difficult. Every province 
has its own distinct language. 

But in six months they could learn so as to converse. 

For working purposes six months would be sufficient, but not for 
preaching. 

But in one year 3^ou could preach ? 

Yes, sir. 

I have never heard it said that any of your members were ever 
charged with immorality in the islands. Is that true? 

Never. 

How is your order supported ? 

By exercise of the ministry by the seminaries themselves. The 
students pay tuition. 

In what parts of the islands are you located now? 

Nueva Caceres, Cebu, Jaro, and Manila. 

Are there as many of the order in the islands now as there were in 
1896? 

Eleven have left for Spain. Ten left last year and 1 this year, and 
now we have 38. We had 49. 

Expression of thanks. 

Adjourned. 



94 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

JESUITS.— MIGUEL SADERRA MATA, FOR SUPERIOR OF THE 

JESUITS WHO IS ILL. 

August 4, 1900. 

Q. When did your order come to the Philippines? 

A. The}^ came here at two dilfferent periods; 1581 first, and 
remained to 1768, and in 1859 we returned again. 

Q. How many priests did you have in the islands in 1896 before the 
revolution began? [Presents the president with a book containing 
this information, 167 including the lay brothers; in Manila 24 priests, 
L3 scholastics, and 25 laymen, and in Mindanao 62 priests and 43 lay- 
men. These scholastics are not students themselves but are teachers.] 

Q. How many were lay members ? 

A. Sixty-eight. 

Q. What are the duties of the lay brothers ? 

A. Among the Jesuits a priest is always a lay brother who manages 
the household. 

Q. Of course it is included in that book, but I would like to know 
generally in what towns and villages the members of your order acted 
as parish priests ? 

A. Only in Mindanao and the adjacent islands, but they are not 
properl}^ speaking parish priests; they are missionaries. 

Q. Was there imposed upon your order when they came back to the 
islands a condition that the}^ should act only as missionaries and 
should own no property ? 

A. That condition was imposed upon themselves by themselves. 

Q. Was there a condition imposed by the Government as to the 
ownership of property ? 

A. They say that there is a condition that we should not claim any- 
thing in the way of property. 

Q. Did the priests of your order that acted as missionaries receive 
a stipend from the Government? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Did that vary from $500 to $1,200? 

A. I believe from |500 to $800, which was the highest. 

Q. Who built the missionary churches in which the members of 
your order officiated? 

A. The missionaries themselves generall}^. 

Q. You mean out of funds that they collected in the church? 

A. It was done both by church funds and by the work which as per- 
formed by those deputized by the Government to do it in its position 
as vice patron. We also ourselves performed work because we placed 
brothers who acted as architects and as master carpenters and master 
masons, and from funds of the missionaries themselves and alms. 

Q. Is not it a fact that the Jesuit order requires a longer and more 
thorough education than an}^ of the other orders of the church ? 

A. As to its being better I do not know, but as to more time being 
employed in the education, yes. 

Q. It is at least nine years? 

A. It is sixteen years. 

Q. Before they officiated as priests ? 

A. Before ordination sixteen years. 

Q. Does your order own any agricultural property in the islands? 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. % 

A. Here is an inventory of the [handing]. None of them are what 
you would call agricultural lands. They are mostly in cities and 
necessary adjuncts to buildings. 

Q. Do you own any property in Benguet? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Is that down in this list? 

A. No; as we have not got it, it is not down there. The Benguet 
property would be like the sanatorium in . We own no prop- 
erty which produces anything. All our property is for the purposes 
of the order and not for the collection of income. We had a place in 
Mindanao so that when students left the college they were furnished 
with a small piece of land. 

Q. Is not it true that practically no charges of immorality have 
been brought against the members of j^our order in these islands ? 

A. It is true that none have been made. I recall that the secretary" 
to Augustine, the governor-general, said to me that against me there 
was no anonymous letter. 

Q. Have you any reason to doubt that if the members of your order 
returned to their parishes they would be received without violence by 
the people to whom they should be assigned? 

A. We have eleven in Mindanao now, and they are working unmo- 
lested, and where they have no Jesuit priests we are receiving letters 
continuously asking to have them sent there. We have letters from 
General Bates and General Kobbe stating that the people there have 
been asking for them. The governors of the towns there have sent 
letters stating that they wanted them to be there. 

Q. How many of your order remain in the islands now? 
^^"-^A^Ninety-three. 

Q. Where have the others gone? 

A. They returned into Spain, but from there they have been ordered 
to different places. 

Q. Why did they go away? 

A. Because there was nothing for them to do here. The head of 
this mission is in Spain, and when there is nothing to do here they are 
recalled by the head of the mission in Spain. 

Q. You mean nothing to do on account of the state of war ? 

/ A. Yes, sir; because conditions were so upset. Fifty-three of the 

/ remaining 93 are in the municipal atheneum, 4 of them are provision- 

/ ally administering parishes in the province of Cavite, 29 in the normal 

( school and observatory, 2 in the Ermita parish, 2 absent in the United 

\ States, and the remaining 11 are in the missions of Mindanao. ^ The 

\parish here in Ermita was imposed on us by the archbishop. We did 

iLot have this parish before. 

Q. I want to ask you one question more, and then I am done. 
What makes the difference in the feeling of the people, or the reputed 
feeling of the people, between your order and the four larger orders 
here ? 

A. I have given that before in this way: In the first place, we have 
no haciendas; and another reason is that nothing has been said against 
our habits up to the present time; and further, the fact of our teaching. 

Q. Is not another reason that they did not mingle in politics and 
were not used by the governor-general for political purposes ?^ 

A. I will answer that question by stating what an Indian said to me 
yesterday: ''You people always went into these questions when it was 
for the benefit of the people at large and not for the individual." 



96 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Father Doyle. That is a hard question, for I myself can not at 
the time understand this popular feeling of the people. 

Q. Where a popular feeling is made up of a good many elements, 
and judging from what the priests say, the Spanish Government used 
those people as the representatives of their power, and when they 
wanted anything done they left it to the priests, and consequently 
when the feeling against Spain grew bitter the feeling against the 
friars grew bitter. Of course that is only one element and then how 
far the feeling actually exists is another question. 

Father Doyle. In many towns there were no garrisons and no 
white man but the priest. The Government was sometimes almost 
obliged to do that. The difference may be that we are not parish work- 
ers, but missionaries. Our principal work was missionary work. 

Q. I think if the}^ had had two friars to every parish, as you had, 
things might have been different? 

A. As to the political functions exercised by our order, the Spanish 
Government, it is true, did confer some trusts and demand some func- 
tions of a civil order from the parish priests and missionaries, such as 
the inspection of schools and participation in certain provincial or 
local boards of charity, proceeds of corporation, etc. We come within 
this latter part more than the other, and in the new towns and in new 
Christian Settlements, represented the mace of authority from the 
Government of Spain to those selected by the Government of Spain to 
have it. That was all the missionaries ever had to do. 

Expression of thanks. 

Adjourned. 

ARCHBISHOP OF MANILA. 

Your grace, how long have you been in the Philippines ? 

Twenty-six years, with an interval of eighteen months, when I made 
a trip to Europe. 

Have you ever had a parish in the islands? 

No; formerly I was professor in Manila. 

How long have you been archbishop ? 

Since 1889. 

Were you a bishop before that time ? 

No. 

As I understand it, the archbishop is (1) the bishop of the See of 
Manila, and (2) the metropolitan of the other bishoprics in the archi- 
pelago ? 

He has a certain intervention, rather limited in fact, in all of the 
other bishoprics. 

I presume that the See of Manila is the largest in the archipelago 
in point of population, and probably also in point of the number of 
parishes? 

Yes, in both. 

Does it include more than the province of Manila? 

Many other provinces: Bulacan, Pampanga, part of Tarlac, all of 
Zambales, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Bataan, and the island of 
Mindoro. The other part of the province of Tarlac was a part of the 
See of Nueva Segovia. 

It is the custom, I think, and always has been, for the Church to give 
to the bishoprics and the archbishoprics the name of the largest city ? 

They are named after the civil capital. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 97 

Do YOU speak Tagalog? 

Very little. The Tagalog language can not be known with an}^ 
degree of perfection unless yon live in the provinces. Not going out 
of Manila, one does not learn it readih'. 

It has no literature? 

A very imperfect literature; some romances — idyls that they sing 
in the towns. 

Have 3"ou observed the character of the Tagalogs and the other races 
in the islands ? 

Naturally; because one living in the Philippines would notice the 
differences which exist between the different races. 

I have asked this because I find that through the priests, and the 
bishops of the church especially, I can get more accurate information 
as to the character of the inhabitants than through almost anyone 
else. 

Naturally; as thej come in closer contact with the people they will 
appreciate the differences. The}^ are what might be termed more 
essentially differences in trait and character than ''zoological" diff'er- 
ences. The same differences that exist between the white and the 
black races are not observed among these people. 

They are a bright race in learning — at least as children ? 

Yes, sir; they lend themselves to education. 

They learn languages with very little difficulty ? 

The}^ never learn a language profoundly or philosophically, but for 
social purposes and conversation they are very apt — ver}^ quick to 
learn. To show my meaning in this particular — that the}^ are quick to 
learn mere conversational matter and no deeper subject — there is a case 
of a ^''oung native who was brought up in one of the schools here, and 
who was absoluteh" protected and surrounded by all safeguards to pre- 
vent him from speaking his own language. This child needed three 
years to become cognizant of what was meant by any written signs 
which needed thought to appreciate what the eye was reading; and 
that term of three years may be put down as the average time neces- 
sary for a native to grasp knowingly a foreign language; but the power 
to speak it superficially they can acquire verj^ rapidly. It is true, 
nevertheless, that were they educated outside their own country, 
where their surroundings would be entireh^ different from those at 
home, the}^ would learn more rapidh^ for despite all the efforts to 
keep them from contact with those who speak their own language, 
whenever they get together they will always speak in their own tongue. 

I suppose when they talk they mix in a good deal of Spanish? 

Yes, sir. 

So that the Tagalog is full of Spanish expressions ? 

Yes, sir; very naturally, for all these languages here are very poor, 
especiall}^ in terms expressing abstract ideas — which they could not 
express at all in their own language except by paraphrasing, so that 
they were forced to take to Spanish — such as "God," '' religion," the 
word ''republican," that would need a great man}^ words to express 
it in their own language. " Revolution," "insurrecto," also are Span- 
ish. They stick to the latter word with a great deal of force. 

Are they rather a light-hearted race, easil}^ affected by pleasure, 
dancing, music, and such things? 

The}^ are. They differ greatly from the European race in that 

S. Doc. 190 7 



98 CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

innate feeling which moves Europeans. They are more impelled by 
extra-neous influences than by innate influence or impulse. 

They are easily moA^ed, then ? 

I have never seen, of course, all tribes, but I have seen nearly all of 
the Malayan race, and I do not know of any race existing which is more 
responsive to its surroundings. There being no proper individuality, 
if the}^ live in good surroundings, they will be good, and if the}" live 
in bad surroundings, they will be bad. 

They have very little tenacity or moral stamina^ 

There is an absolute want of character. They can not grasp an idea 
and by their own mental efi'ort determine whether it is proper or 
improper. 

They have not the logical faculty developed at all ? 

They have just sufficient of the logical faculty to be rational beings. 

I have observed in a number of them who have been educated a 
desire to rush into abstract principles, as if that was the atmosphere 
they loved, without much capacity to reason on the subject? 

They have not sufficient mental capacity to digest any abstract 
question. 

But they like to live in that atmosphere? 

The idealists. A noticeable feature of the native people, and also of 
the mixed races, is that they lack the capacity to apply knowledge or 
scientific research or thought to objects which surround them. In 
other words, prudence and discretion are absolutel}^ unknown to them. 
This is in all the races and in all the paths of life. For instance, a law- 
yer comes from his law school with brilliant attainments, profound 
acquisition of knowledge, but when he is about to take a case he can 
not apply those principles to the facts in the case. 

They lack practicability ? 

Yes, sir. 

And their life is a series of fleeting impressions, with actions founded 
on them? 

Exactly. Another noticeable feature of the race is that very soon 
after they leave an educated atmosphere, they lose all they have learned. 
I take the libert}^ of making one suggestion which I think should be 
borne in mind by all Government officials — their proneness to sugges- 
tions from others. That, perhaps, is their most remarkable and all- 
absorbing character. If a man appears whom they consider a great 
man among the people — some person who occupies a topmost position^ 
they idolize him; think him something divine. They never stop to 
reason, but follow him blindly, as if he was of divine origin. 

Are they variable in the sense that a single misstep will change it all ? 

It is the only way for the idol to sufier a fall. What the Spaniards 
did in America, and which was considered a most barbarous thing, was 
to burn all the idols of the Indians, so that they could no longer follow 
them, and that is what will have to be done here — burn their idols. 

Metaphorically speaking ? 

Oh, naturally. 

They are an artistic race, are they not? 

They could hardly be called an artistic race except in a very limited 
degree. They can not devise anything themselves, but in imitation 
they are very good. 

They enjo}^ music very much, do they not? 

They have a marvelous faculty for retaining music, and they are 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 99 

very responsive to music, but originality in the creation of music they 
have none. For instance, an Indian will hear a melod}^ on the Luneta 
and he will retain it to such an extent that he will write it out after- 
wards — hours afterwards. 

They have sufficient knowledge of music to read it? 

Many of them. They have a prodigious memory, but a majority 
play by ear. This prodigious memory is noticeable in other things as 
well as music. 

They need it in their language, don't they ? 

I have had students, sacerdotal students, who could take a book and 
learn it from beginning to end and repeat it like a parrot and not know 
one word of what it meant. In that they are marvelous. 

Many who make up these orchestras here— they must read music as 
well as play by ear ? 

There are many conductors of orchestras that have been in the 
Spanish regimental bands and a great many of the men themselves 
ean read music, but there is a large number who play by ear. 

Do they have a fondness for a particular kind of music, or does all 
music please them? 

They love all music, but they are particularly entranced by this light 
music. 

Do you think their taste for classical music could be improved by 
hearing it? 

Yes, sir. The}^ will never interpret it with the soul and feeling of 
a person of the white race, but they will interpret it mechanically, all 
of it, without leaving an3^thing out. 

I have observed that the painters, these day laborers, reall}^ have 
considerable faculty with the brush on the walls. 

The pinnacle the master has reached, they have reached, but always 
imitative. They never can go beyond their teacher. 

Do they make good copies from the old masters ? 

I have never seen what might be called a copy of superior worth, 
but I have seen some what might be termed fair. I have some rather 
good ones in my house. 

I have understood that they have considerable faculty in mechanical 
engineering, in running engines and such things. 

They have very skillful hands for any work of that kind. 

Are they pretty good surveyors and railroad engineers — of that sort 
which requires much originalit}^? 

Entering upon avocations which require mathematical knowledge, 
they are not so good. The science of mathematics is one they can not 
grasp. 

That requires too much of the logical faculty ? 

Yes, sir. That is beyond them. In merely elementary arithmetic 
they are fairly good, but when you get to higher mathematics, where 
the reasoning faculties are brought into play, they can not cope with 
them. 

I think their taste for music must have been developed by the Span- 
ish language. What your grace is now saying to me sounds like 
melody. 

No; that is innate with them. This development of their innate 
musical sense is largety attributable to the religious exercises. At the 
beginning, when the missionaries first came here, they conducted their 
services with a great deal of singing to attract the natives. Most of 



100 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

the musicians who have shown any aptitude in their art have been 
graduates of the Cathedral College, w^here music was taught, and up to 
a few years ago that was the onl}^ institution where music was taught 
at all. 

Is music taught in other places now throughout the archipelago ? 

There has always been a musical school here called the School of 
Singing, which is an annex to the cathedral. 

This is sacred music? 

It is sacred music after instruction in the elementary principles. 

Are the people much affected by religious emotions '( 

Oh, yes, sir. 

Do they take to it and then lose it rapidly ? 

As they have no social life except in their religious observances, the 
daily and extraordinary religious functions have become a necessity to 
them. 

They are very much affected by the imagery and grandeur of the 
Catholic ceremony, are they not? 

Yes, sir; to such an extent that I believe it would be useless to 
endeavor to implant here any religion which did not have that optical 
grandeur and spendor which our church has. As a proof of this, in a 
town where it is customary to have a religious procession and take out 
a saint with candles, etc., if there is a failure to do that, there is a 
general saddened feeling existant throughout the people of the town. 
They miss something. So great was the attraction of these outside 
religious functions in the time of the Spaniards in Manila, when they 
had these great religious processions, it would attract these spirits 
from the mountains, and the}^ would come down to town in great 
numbers, and that was the time for the authorities to get hold of them 
and tax them, and then hie them back to the woods. So much is their 
musical taste an innate faculty, and so responsive are they to it, that 
the way the original missionary fathers succeeded in getting religious 
thoughts inculcated into the people was b}^ translating the Bible into 
their language and putting it in the form of song and the entire sacred 
testament was thus made plain to them, and they sang it enthusiastically 
from Genesis to Revelations. That plan was brought from Mexico. 

They are a curious race, because they present such inconsistencies. 
At least so it seems to me. In manner they are quite imperturbable, 
and in suffering and that sort of thing. 

On the outside they are imperturbable, but it is affected. It is not 
what it seems. That is one great error into which those who observe 
them are likely to fall — to be led by that imperturbability to imagine 
that they are valiant, that they have stamina, when they have not. 

In domestic ways they are affectionate to their children, 1 have 
observed. 

Even in that particular they are very peculiar. Their affection for 
their children is more that of the animal than human. It is very 
expressive, the same as an animal, but even then, to show that it par- 
takes more of the animal than the human, they sometimes become 
ferocious and go to extremes that only animals would go to in the 
treatment of their offspring. 

As between themselves, and toward animals, too, the}" seem to be 
without compassion. 

There is absolutely no sincerity in their friendship and the}^ have 
no pity. 

During the revolution I have observed that they have rarely violated 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 101 

the laws of war toward the Americans, but in terrorizing their own 
people they have been guilty of the most outrageous brutality ? 

Yes, even to the extent of burying them alive, cutting off their arms, 
their legs, and cutting out their tongues. 

How many parishes are there in your diocese? 

There are 219 priests. There are three kinds of parishes — parishes, 
mission parishes, and active missions; but some of them are very large 
parishes by reason of the want of priests. 

• Can you tell me, generally, how these parishes are officiated — b}^ 
what orders and by what classes of priests, I mean, before 1896? 

Augustinians, 75; Recoletos, 59; Franciscans, 47; Dominicans, 11, 
and secular clergymen, 21. 

Were the secular clergy natives? 

All. Outside of the regular orders the rest of the clergy were all 
natives. Here [handing statement to president] is a statement which 
shows the number of parish priests and missionaries in the archipelago, 
another giving the number of priests in each diocese, and lastly the 
number of souls in each diocese, which 1 have brought for you. 

Was it not a fact, b}^ reason of the absence of other Spaniards in 
most of the parishes, that the Spanish Government came to rely on the 
Spanish priest as the strongest support of the Government throughout 
the islands ? 

Yes; as the onl}^ element in which the Government could place any 
confidence and who had any intelligence. 

And, as a consequence, the Government was in the habit of imposing 
civil functions, either by law or by custom, upon most of the parish 
priests ? 

We have interrogated a number of gentlemen who preceded your 
grace, and I suppose you concur in their evidence that they were 
inspectors of schools, that they took the census, and that they were, in 
a sense, police agents, upon whom the Government called for informa- 
tion concerning the character of the people in their parishes? 

That is all very true, except that these parish priests gave no reports 
as to the private life of the individual, because that would be contrary 
to the tenets of the church. 

I want to ask one question, if it is not going beyond the bounds — 
that is, if these people were sincere in their confessions ? 

I think so. They were affected by their religious emotions. Those 
who draw near to the confessional are all sincere, but all do not draw 
near. 

It is a great thing to get some things into the character of the peo- 
ple that are genuine and true, for upon that you can gradually build 
up to what is worth something. 

That is very true. 

The parish priests also were really the advisers of everybody in the 
village, official and otherwise? 

That is true. 

And being loyal to Spain and representing the Government of Spain 
in so man}^ capacities, was it not natural that those who began the 
insurrection against Spain should have a hostility toward these repre- 
sentatives ? 

It is very natural. All the more so since this feeling of enmity was 
not so much that of the great mass of the people as those who consti- 
tuted this revolting element against the sovereignt}^ of Spain. 

I want to ask your grace about the relative proportion among the 



102 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

people of this active revolting element to which reference has been 
made. 

You would have to run over the entire archipelago in your mind to 
arrive at that figure. In the beginning it was only the Tagalogs; 
now it has spread, and yet it is only a minute proportion, because this 
element of disturbance is only composed of those people who call 
themselves educated, and even from those people you have to subtract 
a certain proportion. 

That is what 1 want to find out. Of course, your grace can not say 
exactly, but I would like to get your idea of the proportion of the 
so-called educated Tagalogs to the mass. 

Judging from the data collected by ecclesiastics, which is the only 
data on which any reliance can be placed up to the present time, the 
Filipino population, leaving out of course those who are in a semisav- 
age state in the forest, is about 7,000,000. The so-called educated 
element does not amount to 6,000. That excludes, of course, those 
who know onl}^ how to read and write, and includes only those who 
have had a college education — those who have taken a secondary course 
and who are in the professions. The masses who are in the insurrec- 
tionary ranks you would not have to pay any attention to; they are 
either led by fear or by ignorance. 

I want to tell 3^ou a conversation I had with a young educated Fil- 
ipino, who was going to the United States to continue his studies. I 
said to him that I was glad he was going, because I wanted him to go 
to a countr}^ where he should understand what real individual liberty 
was; that there he would find out that it was possible for a minority to 
live under the rule of the majority and enjoy the same rights as the 
majority; that his idea or the idea of the Filipino as to liberty was the 
right of the majority to rule and imprison or cut the throats of the 
minorit}^ and he responded to me, with considerable impatience, that 
that was the feeling, possibly, among the masses, but that among the 
governing and educated element there was a very different feeling, and 
that between the educated Filipino and the masses there was an immen- 
sity of space that we could not appreciate. 

What can be said is that the masses of the people still retain a little 
bit of common sense; whereas, those who boast of being the high and 
mighty have lost it entirely. It is a pity, but it is true. The}^ are 
nothing but overgrown children, who by mimicking civilization believe 
that they have reached the height of civilization. 

Are not the mass of the people, as are most rural communities, sim- 
ple, and have that kind of honesty which comes with simplicity ? 

Within the conditions of their race, they have that native honesty 
and simplicit}^ In times gone by, prior to the revolution of 1896, the 
mass of the people had a simplicity that was really enchanting. One 
could travel around without a guard into the provinces and go through 
an immense lot of people, and they would always receive him with 
open arms. They were very hospitable and the first house 3"0u came 
to you could take and use as your own. 

They are generally a ver}^ hospitable race, are the}" not';! 

Yes, sir. 

They get that from the Spaniards? 

By no means. Of course, the Christian civilization the Spaniards 
have brought them has developed this, but in all the Malayan races 
you will find a certain innate kindliness and hospitality. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 103 

They certainly have derived from the Spaniards the courtesy of 
manners and politeness ? 

Of course, they may have learned some of that. 

Have they not more skill in instrumental music than in vocal music? 
Their voices are hardly trained? 

A great deal more, for I have never known in adults of a single 
case where a voice might be called a superior yoice; but among the 
3^oung children, when their voices are what might be called soprano, 
there have been some that would attract attention anywhere. 

Then the}^ make fine choir boys ? 

Yes, sir. They have no chests. The}^ are a very pusillanimous race. 
There have been cases where a man has died of fright. It could not 
be otherwise, for look at what they have to live on — a little bit of rice 
and a small piece of fish — and the spirit has to be in relation with the 
physical organism. 

They are very temperate, are they not? 

Yes, sir. 

They do not eat much and do not drink much. 

On some feast days they may fill themselves without measure, but 
that is about once a j^ear. They eat for a whole month. 

The strain of a Filipino lunch I have undergone m3\self, with the 
great number of courses they have. 

Whenever the}^ eat at sombody's else expense they always eat well, 
and when they give a banquet or anything of that kind it is to an exag- 
gerated degree, but after the banquet is over all they eat in the house 
is a little bit of fish and a little bit of rice. 

This fact makes them very subject to being carried oif by epidemics? 

Yes; and their method of living in nonh3"gienic surroundings. 

They are cleanly in their person, are they not? 

Otherwise the smell of their bodies would be unendurable. Those 
who are extremely careless about their personal condition are the Chi- 
nese. All of this goes to prove that the climatic conditions of Manila 
are remarkably good, because the hygienic conditions have been any- 
thing but good and would rather invite epidemics, and 3^et the}^ have 
escaped them. 

I agree with you in that. I think it is one of the most remarkable 
archipelagos in the world. 

Yes, sir; you have a diversit}^ of climate here, and while you do not 
get the frigid climate you have all the temperate zone temperatures. 

The percentage of illness in the Arm}^ is lower than it would be in 
the southern portion of the United States? 

Yes, sir; and that, too, when the conditions in the field are anything 
but the best. 

Now, about the stipend paid the parish priests bv the Government 
of Spain— that varied from |500 to |1,200. 

The highest salary paid was $1,200, which was paid to from ten to 
twelve parishes in the entire archipelago. The others were $900, $800, 
$600, and $500. 

How were the churches built in your see'^ 

The same as in all the rest of the archipelago. Usually at the ini- 
tiative of the parish priests, who usuall}" utilized an amount which 
was appropriated by the Government of Spain for a church-building 
fund, which was five, six, and eight hundred dollars, according to the 
category of the parish. In fact in the majority of cases, b}' the aid of 



104 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

the parishioners themselves, because it was always the greatest ambi 
tion of the inhabitants of a barrio to become first a municipalit}^ by 
themselves and next a parish, and very often for the purpose of get- 
ting a government for themselves the}^ would advance funds for a 
church— help to build a church. 

A parish usually had one church in the main part of the town ? 

Each town contained one parish church. The civil unit was also the 
ecclesiastical unit. The parish and the pueblo were identical. 

And the pueblo was like our township in the United States and the 
province was made up of pueblos, each with a number of barrios? 

Yes, sir; and at times these barrios surrounded the pueblo. 

Now, in the barrios, could not they have churches as well as in towns? 

No. Only a species of chapels — just for the purpose of having once 
a year a function in honor of the titular saint of that barrio, and also 
for the use of those who by reason of their distance from the central 
church could not go there to perform their religious devotions. 

I believe the ordinary canonical rule was that a person was not obliged 
to attend church by going more than 4 or 5 miles ? 

That was not an obligation. It was only a recommendation. About 
4 leagues. That was only a recommendation, so that enough churches 
might be built to prevent anybody from going more than 4 leagues. 

In whose name is the land on which the churches stand ? 

In the name of the superior authority of the diocese, who was the 
bishop. But, as a matter of fact, there were no written deeds, because 
the church, the seminary, and the parsonage were considered as pub- 
lic buildings, so that even after the registration was instituted they 
were not recorded, and this grows out of the provision of the Spanish 
law, which is based on the provision of the canonical law, that every- 
thing which is devoted to worship is outside of commerce and trade. 

Now, the house in which you live — is the title to that registered? 

I do not know of any registration of it. History recounts, so far as 
I have been able to investigate, that in the seventeenth century the 
plot on which the former residence stood (for it had been changed in 
time) a Mexican secular priest built the house out of his own funds, 
and in his will left it to his successor. The reason this Mexican bishop 
had to build it out of his own pocket was that there were not sufficient 
government funds, as it was an obligation of the Spanish Government 
to build churches, provide seminaries, and conventos, and build a pal- 
ace for the bishop, all of which grows out of a compact between the 
Pope and the Government of Spain that they should endow churches 
and priests to carry on religious teachings. 

Now, the cathedral is held in the same way? 

This cathedral has been destroyed four times by fire and earth- 
quakes, but it was not built by public funds originally, but by several 
archbishops. The Government has, however, invested about $200 in 
one or two reconstructions of it. 

And the land on which it stands — that is what ordinarily makes the 
title to the building? 

That was government land. All of these islands were called royal 
lands. 

My questions are directed toward a straightening out of the titles, 
because where there is separation of church and state, you have got 
to have separate titles. 

Yes, sir; now it has got to assume another form. 



CHURCH LAIRDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 105 

What my question leads up to is the proper form of action to be 
taken by the government of the islands, representing the Government 
of the United States, to give to the church and to the Catholics of the 
parish the legal title to the property used for worship and to the par- 
sonages and seminaries, because we are not here to rob the Catholic 
Church. 

The Government may make mistakes, but it will never do an injus- 
tice. I have been so certain of this that I did not, like others, take 
any precaution to assure the title to my property, for I felt certain 
the Government would protect me in the matter. 

I understand that b}^ the canonical law the person in whose name 
the property belonging to the chvirch should stand is the bishop — that 
is, he is the person representing the church in the diocese, and that it 
is the duty of each bishop to make a will securing the property to his 
successor ? 

That is correct. 

We have had communication from various people in the provinces 
who sa}^ "we built this church," and yet it stands on State property, 
and we should like to have the title cleared up in some way. Now, 
would this kind of conveyance express the real title: "To the arch- 
bishop or to the bishop of the diocese, for the use of the Catholic 
residents of the particular pueblo"? 

Yes; that is the proper way to proceed. 

Of course, the only questions that are likely to arise will be (like 
the San Jose case) with respect to such other properties, 1 am told, to 
which complete religious character is not assured; but with respect to 
all property used for worship or mere necessary adjuncts to worship — 
the seminary, the parsonage — there will not be the slightest trouble 
about our giving to the church that propert}^ and giving the church a 
legal title. I do not mean to intimate that the other property may not 
be of the same character, but of this there can be no doubt. 

Yes; this is very clear, and the rest will go on clearing up, too. 

Now, what I want our grace to explain to me is the "obras pias" 
and the "obras mitre." 

Those funds whose administration is directly and exclusively in the 
hands of the bishop are called "obras pias of the mitre," but those 
known generally as "obras pias" are intrusted to the administration 
of another party, or of another entity under the jurisdiction of the 
bishop. Sometimes it is controlled by a single person and sometimes 
by a board; ordinarily it is a board. That is the only difference 
between what is known as the "mitre" fund and the "obras pias" 
fund. 

Now, what goes to make up the " obras pias?" 

In the 3^ear 1850 several "obras pias," which were intended for 
separate objects and which are administered by different people, were 
brought together and centralized and put under one direction. The 
funds which constitute what is known here as the "general obras 
pias" are four: Santo Domingo, San Francisco, Isabel, and the Recol- 
letos. These four funds were managed by four different people, and 
when the funds were all joined together these four formed a board 
for the management of them all. The joining or bringing together of 
these four funds was by order of the Spanish Government, whose idea 
was to found this Spanish-Filipino Bank, and which, as a matter of 
fact, was founded bv the union of these four funds. The government 



106 CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

was very anxious to establish a bank, and they bethought themselves 
that the easiest way (recognizing their right of intervention in ecclesi- 
astical matter by Pontifical authority) was to unite the four funds. 
Under the b3^-laws these four funds are to be managed so as to pro- 
duce the greatest benefit for the objects for which they are intended. 
They are usually employed in advancing money upon mortgages to 
land- property titles. The archbishop presides over the annual meet- 
ing of this board, but they have to render account to him at all times. 

The income of the fund is used to pay expenses of the masses, to 
build charitable institutions, and to discharge other pious works, as I 
understand it'^ 

Yes, sir. All of these funds were originated by Spaniards. There 
are no natives interested whatever in it. Aside from the religious 
and pious ends to which the income of these funds are devoted they 
also pay yearly portions of the income to the descendants of the 
original makers of those funds according to the will of the man who 
founded the fund. 

They do not, however, turn over any of the income to the general 
treasury of the religious orders except for services rendered in giving 
mass and that sort of thing. 

The only amounts which are paid over to the treasury of the differ- 
ent orders are such as the founders of the fund themselves ordered 
should be paid over at certain times, and those are handed directly 
over to the different orders for different purposes, according to the 
behests of the founders of the fund, under the supervision of the 
archbishop. There are some of these funds destined every year to the 
convent of Santa Clara, and some to missionary work in China. The 
regular orders here are no more beneficiaries than any other bene- 
ficiary of a will would be. 

As I understand it, the fund of the "obras pias" is principally 
occupied in supporting the larger part of the capital of the Filipino 
Bank. Is it still there? 

There have been large accretions to the original fund, and 1 do not 
know now what proportion of the capital it represents, but in the 
beginning it was the capital of the bank. I do not remember the fig- 
ures very well, but I have an idea that when the several funds were 
paid over at first for establishing the bank they amounted to $600,000. 

Would your grace be willing to give me a general estimate as to the 
amount the " obras pias" has now reached and its annual income ? 

I can not tell you offhand, but 1 can get it for you and furnish it to 
you in writing. 

There is a great deal of misinformation on the general subject of 
ecclesiastical ownership of property here, and I want to clear it up if 
I can. 

I understand that very well and fully recognize myself the aptness 
and proneness of the people in this society to attribute wrongdoings 
and evil impulses to everybod3^ I have always proceeded on the plan 
to give out everything and will be glad to have the opportunit3^ 

As to the "miter fund," is that like the other, except that your grace 
administers it as archbishop and it was provided in the fund that 3^ou 
should administer it? ' 

It is administered by the secretary of the archbishop. This " miter 
fund," or what goes to make the "miter fund" now, was originally 

known as a fund, administered by different for different 

purposes. It was public^ administered and a certain archbishop 



CHURCH LANDS i:N^ PHILIPPIN^E ISLANDS. 107 

ordered it to be united and made into one fund and put under the 
direct supervision of the archbishop. 

What was the source of the fund ? 

It is a pious legacy, given for mass only. 

And that is under the direct control of the secretary- for the arch- 
bishop \ 

Yes, sir. 

It has now grown to be a large fund ? 

The onh" wa}^ in which it has grown is b}^ the enhanced value of the 
property" from which the legac^^ flows. 

But I suppose the contributions of those who died and left these 
leo'acies continued and increased^ 

There are also losses h\ typhoons, fires, and earthquakes. 

Have 3^ou any agricultural property in either of these funds i 

In the general "obras pias,-' not in the "miter.'' Yes, but it is all 
recorded. 

Would you object to giving me a statement of that? 

I shall be glad to. A man who can tell you more about that than 
I is the chief justice of the supreme court. Up to his appointment he 
was the administrator. 

Then I will ask him to give me a statement, if you do not object. 

The data I will furnish myself, because it is all in the secretary's 
office, but if 3"ou want anj" interpretation, I would suggest that you 
ask Judge Arellano. 

I have found in my judicial experience that there is a great dif- 
ference between rumors and facts. I want to get the facts. 

You will find that difl:'erence to be greater in the Philippines than 
an3"where else, because Manila is a city of lies. 

Will 3^ou be good enough in this statement, which you say you will 
prepare for me, to give me a general statement of the income of the 
two funds before 1896? I do not want to go into details, but in round 
numbers. What was the S3^stem with respect to the assignment of 
priests in the parishes? Were the}^ ordinarily kept in the same parish 
during their life or were they rotated ? 

There was a difierent method of designating men for the differ- 
ent parishes, but no one ever staj^ed in one parish for a lifetime. 
They were under the jurisdiction of the superior. 

AVhat has heretofore been called the ? 

The and also the provincials. 

The provincials exercised an authority then under the archbishop 
with respect to the rotation of the priests ? 

Yes, sir. 

The provincial of the order would recommend to the archbishop a 
change, and then it would be made with his concurrence? 

Exactly. 

So that the immediate discipline of the parish priests was under the 
provincial of the order, and that was under the supervision of the 
archbishop ? 

Yes, sir. 

Of course the secular priests were directh^ under the supervision of 
the archbishop? 

Yes, sir. 

Were anv charoes of immoralitv ever made during vour incumbencv 
against the priests in your see i 

Yes; accusations — man3\ 



108 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

And the}^ were, of course, investigated? 

All investigated; but with results in only seven or eight cases. 

Do you think it possible that immorality might have existed among 
others and the provincials of the order not know it? 

A few cases might have existed, but, generally speaking, it would 
have been very difficult. But the great difficulty here, as the Ameri- 
can authorities will soon discover, is to get at the truth of the charges. 
It has often happened when 1 have been investigating certain rumors 
regarding the priests to find the natives likely to say "yes" to-day 
and " no " to-morrow. In certain cases I have had papers from Indians 
bearing their signatures, making accusations against parish priests, 
and when asked if they signed that paper they would say ""Yes," and 
then I would ask if it was so, and they would say " No," that they 
signed it because someone asked them to do so. Another serious 
obstruction to the administration of justice in these cases is that even 
when actual guilt exists they will, in making the charges, surround 
them with so man}^ lies and immaterial accusations that to sift out the 
truth is almost an impossibilit}^ and they really render the charges 
useless by this false and infamous calumny. 

Do you think that the immorality, such as existed, was the cause of 
any hostility on the part of the parishioners against the priests? 

Absolutely none at all, because they have no moral sense. The 
principle in this lies in that they do not ever complain against a priest, 
no matter whether he has this or that ugly vice. The only time they 
complain is when the}^ have a little revenge to reap. 

Do they complain against the native priests ? 

Sometimes, verj^^ seldom, where there is a clash of interests. Other- 
wise they never accuse them. 

On the whole, the native priests are much less rigid in their moral- 
ity than the Spanish priests, are they not? 

A great deal less. As in the physical sense he is weaker, so also is 
he in the moral. It must also be recognized as a fact that a native 
priest at the head of the parish has much less prestige than a white 
priest. 

Now, as to the chastity of the Philippine women ; they are not gen- 
erally and promiscuously unchaste, are they? 

No, they are not. It is true of all people that there is more chas- 
tity in women than in men, but here it is especially noticeable. 

I have observed that they are quite modest according to their lights. 
Now, while they are not promiscuously unchaste, I have heard it said 
that there is a good deal of disregard for the necessit}^ of the ceremony 
of marriage before they begin to live together as man and wife. 

But in turn the Indian woman living in concubinage is always rest- 
less. She wants to have her marriage solemnized in order to legiti- 
matize the children. 

And she is usually faithful to the man with whom she is living ? 

Generally, yes; and generally the man is not. The Avoman is bet- 
ter than the man here in every way. In intelligence, in virtue, and 
in labor; and a great deal more economical. She is ver}^ much given 
to trade and trafficking. If an 3^ rights or privileges are to be granted 
to the natives, do not give them to the men but to the women. 

Then you think it would be much better to give the women the right 
to vote than the men? 

Oh, much more. Why, even in the fields, it is the women who do 
the work. The men go to the cockfights and gamble. 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 109 

And the men have no hesitancy about living on the earnings of the 
women 'i 

The woman is the one who supports the man here; so every law of 
justice demands that even in political life they should have the privi- 
lege over the men. You have to conform to nature. I must render 
just tribute to the American army here. I have noticed all along the 
consideration they have had for the women. It is worthy of com- 
ment. If they had been Spaniards, or Italians, or Frenchmen, they 
would have committed more breaches in the line of moralit}^ than the 
American soldier has. Throughout the provinces the rumor had run 
that the American soldier was a beast in ever}" way — a savage. 

As to the looting of the churches — how much was done by the vol- 
unteers? I have understood that they have been very severely pun- 
ished for what the}^ did. 

The dislike of the native women to the American is due a great deal 
to this despoliation of the churches, for, as in other countries, she is 
more religious naturalh^ than the man, and a great deal of that was 
done. What has created the greatest outcry against the American 
troops was the treatment of the sacred images in the churches — tear- 
ing olf arms and throwing them outside like a puppet. 

That has ceased since the volunteers went away ? 

Yes. There were very many good men among those former volun- 
teers; but, naturally, the bad element controlled. 

As to the possibility of the parish priests obtaining the deportation 
of men whom they thought ought to be banished from the community 
by application to the governor-general — will you kindly give me your 
views on that? 

Those are very rare cases. There have been a few. Upon the peti- 
tion of a parish priest any deportation ensuing is a ver}" rare case. As 
to the deportation of men by the civil authorities upon their own 
investigation, assisted in a wa}" by the parish priests, but not upon his 
initiative, there were several; but the civil authorities generall}^ made 
the accusation against the man, and the governor-general would ask the 
parish priest to report upon the facts in the case, and he rendered that 
report, and it was understood to be entirely confidential, and it might 
be for or against the man, and afterwards, when deportation ensued, 
very often the local civil authority would give it out that the parish 
priest made the accusation, and naturally it brought upon him the dread 
of the community. That has been done in all sections of the island, 
but principally among the Tagalogs. 

Now, I want to talk with your grace a little on the school question ? 

That is ver}^ important. 

We are charged with the duty of establishing a public school system 
here, and the only way we can make it a good system at all is to lev}^ 
substantial taxes. 

I think that the time when that will be proper proceeding will be 
delayed considerabh^ It is true that the best use that can be made of 
the proceeds of taxation is in education. You have laid down the prin- 
ciple that the best thing to do at the beginning is to establish a good 
public school system, and I will lay down the principle that you ^yill 
have to do it independently of the Indians. To give the administration 
of the schools to him is to throw the mone}^ in the fire. 

Q. We expect to retain sufiicient control over the system to prevent 
that if we can, but what we need most is the cooperation of the church. 

A. It has alwavs been the desire of the church to instruct the chil 



110 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

dren in order to make a good foundation for religious training, and 
you want to awaken the intelligence of the child suflficient to enable 
him to grasp the civil side of life. 

Q. You know the restrictions placed upon the disbursement of 
money in America raised by taxation in that it must be nonsectarian. 
But this is a Catholic country, and it will be a better country as it is 
a better Catholic country, and we wish to give as full opportunity as 
we can, subject to the restrictions I have mentioned, for the instruc- 
tion of the school children, either before or after the regular instruc- 
tion, by the priest or teacher whom the church will select, in morality 
and religion, and we wish to give the same opportunity to other 
churches. Now, such a system has worked in some parts of America. 
In a great many parts of America no religious instruction is permitted 
in the schools at all, but we are in a different country, and so long as 
we keep within the line of not ourselves paying people for instruction 
in a particular religion, we want to give full opportunity to the opera- 
tion of the church in moral and religious instruction to the children, 
and we have said to our superintendent of instruction that while it is 
not possible, of course, to discriminate in favor of Catholic teachers 
in selecting those whom we hope to bring out here, we are very 
anxious in any legitimate way to make that number a just and fair 
proportion. 

A. That is a ver}^ good idea. 

Q. We are very anxious, in every way that we can legitimately, to 
secure the powerful cooperation of the Catholic Church in educational 
and other measures. 

A. The Government may rely upon that naturally, for if only for 
our own pride we would endeavor to cultivate religious principles. 

Q. How man}^ priests in your see were assaulted or imprisoned 
uring the revolutions of 1896 and 1898? 

A. Nearly all of them outside of Manila. 

Q. How long were they kept in prison ? 

A. Almost up to the time this rescue took place, when the Americans 
advanced up to the north and down to the Camarines. 

Were any of them killed? 

At the beginning, in Zambales, -the}^ killed three. Afterwards the 
leaders of the insurrectory movement in the field treated them as badly 
as they could, but the mass of the people treated them very well — so 
much so that they gave them everything they had. So much so that 
the Spanish officers and soldiers came to get the crumbs of hospitality, 
which goes to prove that the people do not hate the priests as much as 
the Katipunans would make one believe. 

To what do you attribute this hostility against the friars — such as 
existed ? 

Because the parish priest was always the terror to evil doers, and 
the few who had ideas of independence and could explain them did not 
want any European witness of what they were tr^dng to do with the 
mass of the people. The missionary, be he a friar or secular priest, 
was always an agent of order and morality, and that is what they dis- 
liked. Those who liked to live by fishing in troubled waters did not 
want any missionary around them. Another reason for the hatred of 
the friars is that all of these Katipunans, who want independence, 
want nothing but native priests, because the}^ can manage them and 
make them their instruments, and they know that the}^ could not 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. Ill 

manage the white priests, and therefore they are trying to make the 
people hate the white priests. 

It has been charged that some of the feeling against the friars was 
due to the reported action of the friars against Rizal. Will you be 
good enough to tell me — to give me an account of the proceedings 
against Rizal from the standpoint of the Spanish Government and of a 
Spaniard who was here? 

I will be very glad to do so, because it is one of the greatest calum- 
nies that has been cast upon the church. The case of Rizal is one 
in which the church had no interference whatever, beginning with the 
archbishop down to the lowest friar. The}" have all made the effort 
to hang that accusation upon the friars. Rizal was in Europe and he 
came over to the Philippines and organized what he called the '" Philip- 
pine League," and the Government sought to see in that an element of 
uprising among the people, and they bethought themselves of sending 
him to Dapit, off the coast of Mindanao. Hethen asked permission of 
General Blanco to go to Cuba as a volunteer surgeon. That permis- 
sion was granted and he came up from the island of Dapit to Manila, 
but they did net let him come on shore, but held him here until the 
Spanish mail steamer arrived and then went to Barcelona. While he 
was on his way to Barcelona the uprising of 1896 occurred. The mili- 
tar}^ authorities, by order of General Blanco, instituted an inquiry 
before a military tribunal, which was entireW military, and it appeared 
that Rizal was complicated in this insurrectory movement. When 
they discovered from the result of this investigation that he was impli- 
cated in it, the civil governor telegraphed to have him apprehended 
at Barcelona on his arrival and returned to Manila. The inquiry was 
continued at this time, not only against him, but others who were also 
alleged to be implicated with him, and the result of the military tri- 
bunal w^as the sentence of death. In the whole of that trial there was 
no written or verbal testimony by anyone connected with the priests. 
It was a military tribunal, hearing a case without the slightest inter- 
vention of the religious orders; but, following the usual custom of 
attributing everything that was arduous, that was bad, that was wrong, 
to the religious element, they cast this slander upon them, which has 
no foundation in fact whatever; and, besides, I myself took personal 
pains in behalf of some others who were charged about that (but not with 
him) with complicity in this insurrectory movement, and I succeeded 
in saving their lives, but not one ever said anything about that, and the}'^ 
are walking around Manila daily. It has always been the custom to 
attribute ever}^ killing by judicial decree for political offenses in the 
islands to the friars without any ground whatever. 

Do you know Aguinaldo ? 

Yes, sir. In Cavite, when he was presidente, he honored me a great 
deal with music. 

What kind of a man is he ? 

He is poor. I can not say whether he is cultured or uncultured. 
He has onh^ had three years' course in secondary instruction, without 
any benefit to himself. 

Does he speak Spanish ? 

I do not know whether he has learned any since he has been in the 
field, but before he could not follow a conversation in Spanish. 

But hasn't he more force of character than the men he has gathered 
about him ? 



112 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Not at all. Circumstances have favored him. No especial personal 
merit at all. His only claim was due to the fact that he was the first 
to rise against the Spanish Government and kill a few men of the 
guardia civil in Cavite, which, with their proneness to exaggerating 
everything, they construed into a great victory, and he was carried on 
the flood tides of popularity. He has no personal valor whatever. 

Expression of thanks. 



August 7, 1900. 
THE BISHOP OF JARO. 

Q. How large is 3^our diocese? 

A. All the island of Panay, of Negros, the district of Romblon, 
and Zamboanga and Jolo. 

Q. You have a beautiful part of the archipelago, I am told? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. How many parish priests were there in your diocese before the 
revolution ? 

A. About 200, including the missions. 

Q. Can you state generally how those priests were divided with 
relation to the religious orders? 

A. As follows: Twenty-six parishes were presided over by native 
priests. Three parishes, which were next adjoining the see and two 
neighboring islands and all of what is known as the district of Eclan, 
which is more than one-half the province of Capiz. All the rest of 
the island of Panay, which is composed of three provinces, lloilo, 
Capiz, and Antique, were with the Augustinian fathers. The Recole- 
tos were in the district of Romblon, Palawan, and the island of Bolava. 
The Jesuits were in Mindinao and Jolo. 

I will send you to-morrow the number of each order in the districts 
mentioned. The bishopric did not have to be presided over by the 
members of am^ order. My predecessor was a Recoleto, but the one 
prior to him was not. Jaro is the most recent bishopric. 

Q. It was created out of the diocese of Cebu ? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. What civil or political functions did the priests in your diocese 
actually perform ? I do not mean what the law required them to per- 
form, but what was thrust on them by the Spanish Government, and 
what did they actually do ? 

A. By reason of the fact that there were hardly any educated men 
at all in the provinces, the priests were called upon to perform almost 
every ofiice, administrative and executive, of a civil character, but he 
usually occupied the position of presiding officer of provincial boards. 
For instance, when I arrived here in 1875 and was designated to go to 
the Visayas to learn the language, in a province of 300,000 there were 
only four Spaniards, and consequently they had to rely on the parish 
priests to make a connection between the government and the people. 

Q. How long did it take you to learn the Visayan language ? 

A. Fourteen months. 

Q. You learned it sufficiently well in that time to preach in it ? 

A. Yes, sir; in four months you could learn enough to transact 
business. 



CHURCH LANDS 11^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 113 

Q. Is it more difficult than the Tagalog? 

A. They are all about the same. 

Q. What do you think of the characteristics of the Yisayans as 
compared with the Tagalogs? 

A. More pacific and quiet. They are more humble and submissive. 
One of the proofs of that is that all of the Tagalogs that go from here 
immediately impose on the people and get the best out of them. It 
ma}^ be that the Tagalogs have a more worldly knowledge than the 
Visayans. It must also be borne in mind that the Tagalogs in this 
part of the islands have had more rubbing up against the foreign 
element. When I went there and up to a very recent time there were 
no foreigners in that section. 

Q. How are they as to industry? Do the Visayans like work any 
better than the Tagalogs ? 

A. I believe perhaps a Visayan is less addicted to work even thana. 
Tagalog because they have ever.y thing at hand and nothing calling for 
work. Nevertheless, in those places where progress demands more 
needs the}^ are working very well, and in the twenty-two years I have 
lived there the advance in agriculture has been very great. 

Q. And 3"ou think they are capable of being trained to work? 

A. Yes, sir. The proof of that is that the great sugar plantations 
owned by foreigners are worked by the Visayans. 

Q. Are the}^ skillful mechanics ? 

A. For imitative purposes, 3^es. Initiative they have none. Even 
in agriculture they do not evolve anything themselves. 

Q. How is it as compared with the Tagalogs as to their lack of 
appreciation of the difi'erence between meum and tuum? 

A. About the same. You can see that after all the time the parish 
priests have spent in trying to bring them up in proper ways they 
immediately^ assert themselves as the owners of ever3^thing and want 
to appropriate ever^^thing to themselves. As most of the population 
live either on river banks or the seashore, where in a half an hour they 
can get one or two fish and a little salt and with some herbs that grow 
spontaneously, thej^ do not have to work, and if a native has some- 
thing they want they just take it. The climate itself is very favor- 
able — they hardly have to wear any clothes. With the introduction 
of new elements, new civilization and the necessity of being clothed in 
public will bring about new conditions, but now climatic conditions 
and all are to the contrary. 

Q. As servants are they pilferers? 

A. Yes, sir. Here, for instance, the Ilocanos are considered as good 
servants and others as bad servants, but speaking broadly they are all 
the same. Those who have been nearer to the priests have learned 
to be a little more honest. 

Q. Do 3^ou think that the Ilocanos do make better servants ? 

A. Yes, sir; I think so. The3^ are better morall3^ and the3Mvill stick 
to a place longer. For instance, there is an Ilocano who had been 
twenty 3'ears in the convent, and some 3^ears ago in cleaning up the 
house he became lame and was sent to the hospital and recovered, but 
he is the onh^ one who has not left during the revolution. In industry, 
in fidelit3^, and morality the Ilocanos are the best. 

Q. I suppose the priests in 3^our diocese receiTe the same. stipend as 
the priests throughout other parts of the island ? 

A. Yes, sir; the same. 

S. Doc. 190 8 



114 CHURCH LAIRDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. And the building of the churches was made in the same way? 

A. Yes, sir; the church government is the same in all the island. 

Q. With reference to the title to the churches, are there deeds? 

A. Generally speaking, no. These lands were just donated to the 
church by the government or by private parties, and everybody recog- 
nized that fact, so there was no necessity. 

Q. So that there is no right, except that of prescription ? 

A. Yes, sir; and occupation. We can bring proofs of the posses- 
sion, of course. 

Q. Oh, yes; I understand, but I ask the question with reference to 
this: We must clear up the titles in these islands; we must have the 
public lands surveyed, and we must secure the registry of proper titles. 
I fancy that 3^ou can correct me if I am wrong, that the land on which 
most of the churches stand, so far as the records show, is Government 
land? 

A. I believe that is the fact, because twent3^-two years ago, when I 
went to my parish, there was no church, or convents, or anything; 
there was just the plan of a town made by the Government, with the 
different lots laid out and designated for certain purposes — a lot for 
the church and for the convents. 

Q. Of course, the Government of the United States is not here to 
deprive the church of its property, or to deprive the people of the 
right in perpetuity to the use of the church, and my questions were 
put with a view of determining what steps ought to be taken to make 
the proper titles for the land upon which the churches stand. It has 
occurred to me that the best way to do that would be for the Govern- 
ment to convey each convento and church to the bishop of the diocese 
for the use of the particular parish in which the church and convento 
stand. Would that not accord with both the rights of the parishioners 
who contributed to the erection of the church and to the rules of the 
church with reference to the holding of propert}^ ? 

A. Yes, sir; it should be conveyed to the office and not to the person. 

Q. To the bishop for the use of the parishioners who live in that 
particular parish? 

A. That is proper. That would simplify the work. For instance, 
ten or fifteen families live in a settlement. They ask the bishop to 
send a priest. He goes there, and there is no church, and there is no 
house, and they give him ground for the church and for the convento. 
They send people to get the lost souls in the forest and as they gain 
souls, they gain property for church purposes. 

Q. I suppose usually the church and convento stand on the public 
square ? 

A. Yes, sir. Very often you can tell the central part of the town 
by seeing the church and convento. Very often there is nothing but 
the church and the convento in the town. Some one asked another 
who had been over the archipelago what he had seen and he said 
nothing but churches and conventos. 

Q. Really the only substantial buildings in the countr}^ are the 
churches and conventos. The houses seem to be built of unsubstantial 
material ? 

A. The answer to that is to ask where the American troops are all 
quartered now. 

Q. In your diocese did any of the religious orders own haciendas? 

A. None at all. The only thing in the way of property owned by 



CHURCH LA:N^DS in PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 115 

the orders is a small piece of property in Mindanao owned by the 
Jesuits — an orphanage with a piece of ground to instruct them in 
agriculture. 

Q. Did any of the orders own property for rental purposes in Iloilo 
and other towns ? 

A. Nothing at all. 

Q. How did it happen you are bishop of Jaro and not of Iloilo ? 

A. Iloilo at the time the see was founded was an unimportant place. 
It happened, however, to be at the mouth of the river. Three miles 
up the river was Jaro, and consequent!}^ when the see was formed the 
seat was placed at Jaro instead of Iloilo. Iloilo has only • begun to 
become important and grow in the last twenty years. In the 5^ear 
1876 it was nothing but a group of houses. It is only 3 kilometers 
from Jaro. 

Q. I have been informed by military officers whom I have seen and 
talked with, and, indeed, by some of the Spanish residents here, that 
there was a kind of slavery enforced b}" the wealthy natives by lending 
money to people whom the}^ desired to employ as servants by having 
the debt thus contracted increased and never paid, and having it worked 
out from time to time b}^ the children, and that in this way the native 
wealthy families were enabled to have retainers that really were very 
little short of peons. 

A. That system is not contined, by any means, to my diocese, but 
is general throughout the archipelago. The reason that it is said to 
be more general there is because Jaro is a great place for weaving, 
and the men up there are always borrowing money. For instance, two 
girls would go to a wealth v man and ask for a few dollars, and as they 
only received a real a day in weaving it would take a long time to pay 
it. In the matter of house servants, their salar}^ was small, and if 
they broke a plate or anything it was charged against them, so that 
they were practically in slavery. A great man}" of these mat factories 
in Jaro secured employees in that wa}^, and that was why they could 
sell so cheap. The wonderful thing is that the people seemed to be 
better satislied, and would rather work that way than for a Spaniard 
at a higher salar}^ The owners of these so-called slaves took good 
care to feed them well, and care for them so that they could do good 
work. 

Q. And did they ever try to get away ? 

A. There are some few cases. There have been cases where a girl 
wanted to get married, and they would not let her because she might 
lose some time from her work and then she has run away with the 
man. 

Q. Have they ever tried the matter in the law? 

A. The law tolerates it, but the}^ have never appealed to the law. 
It is just a custom. The}" are perfectly satisfied, because they are 
well fed and well cared for and another great fact is the respect of 
these young people for their parents, which is the natural Catholic 
training and has been enhanced by the teachings of the Catholic 
Church. 

Q. I fancy if this system had prevailed in the Spanish families, we 
would have heard much more about it as a cause for the revolution ? 

A. There are two reasons why it has not existed: Because they did 
not want to work for the Spaniards and the Spaniards, however bad 
they may be, did not want a man to work in that way. If there has 



116 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

been any case of that kind, it has been where Spaniards have married 
Filipino women, and then it was through the women. 

Q. Does it prevail now among the richer Filipino families? 

A. It is disappearing fast — very little of it is left now. 

Q. How many people were well-to-do in your diocese? 

A. There are a great many wealthy people there. The island of 
Panay with its three provinces is naturally a ver}^ rich country, and 
there are many people who are well-to-do, as well as on the island of 
Negros. 

Q. Are the}^ wealthy landowners ? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. And that is the way they made their wealth? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Do they keep the money at home — do they secrete it? 

A. No; they are all spendthrifts. The best part of the island of 
Negros is almost entirel}^ possessed by natives — a few Spaniards and a 
few other foreigners, but largely owned b}^ natives. Answering the 
question about their saving their money, they do not save it all, but 
the great majority with good lands are alwaj^s borrowing money on 
their crops. As a proof of that, I take the case of a Spanish mestizo 
family in the island of Negros. The father died and left a great deal 
of money, and a fine hacienda, and in two or three years they did not 
have anything. Fortunately, about the year 1896, the grand prize of 
the lottery fell to one of the brothers, $100,000, and in a year after he 
did not have a cent. They go to the banks in one town and another 
and get all the money they can and when the crop is harvested they 
owe it all. 

Q. What do they do with their money ? 

A. Above all, gambling. 

Q. Do they live extravagantly? 

A. They spend it on jewelry — tine diamonds they can not resist — 
also disorderly living. What do you think of a little child 7 years old 
carrying a coronet on her head that cost $9,000? Only by talking in 
this way can 3^ou get at the true characteristics of these people. 

Q. Yes, and I thank you, very much. 

A. Those who come here spontaneously and uncalled for to tell you 
about the country are not to be believed as quickl}^ as those who 
appear when called upon and express true ideas of the conditions. 
For instance, all we can wish for is the peace, tranquility, and the good 
of the country, and if we do not tell the full truth tomorrow the 
authorities would find otherwise. 

Q. There are no set of men that know the country better than the 
priests over whom you preside. 

A. That is true. 

Q. Because with the confidential and the close associations between 
the priests and the people, they can learn to know them better than 
any other. 

A. In many cases a priest is out living among them with no one to 
talk to except these people, and there is mutual interchange of confi- 
dences. 

Q. How is it as to the chastity of the Visayans? 

A. Aside from climatic influences and natural disposition, the chast- 
it}" among the women is considerable. I refer now to yesterday and 
not to to-day, for then we had not only the force of authorit}^, but the 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 117 

authority of force, and to-day we have nothing; so we can not respond 
as to what is going on to-da3\ Concubinage is what w^e had to struggle 
against more than an3"thing else. The parents did not care. The 
priests would find them living openly in concubinage and make them 
get married. 

Q. Of course, there are degrees in unchastity; there is a promiscu- 
ous licentiousness where a woman will yield to the approaches of any 
man, and then there is a kind of un chastity" that disregards the mar- 
riage Yows in not insisting on a church ceremon}^ before associating as 
man and wife, and yet which regards that relation as one which pre- 
vents the woman and the man from violating their promise to each 
other; and my impression has been that only the second of the two 
kinds of chastity, or unchastit3^ as n^ou may call it, prevails in these 
islands, and that the absence of the first kind is due largely to the influ- 
ence of the Catholic church, for elsewhere 3"ou find people of a similar 
race as these, 3"ou do find general licentiousness. 

A. You have stated the case exactly as it is. The natural tendenc3" 
of these women, the climatic conditions assisting them, is rather toward 
licentiousness than to living with one man. We have even got them 
to marry when they were living in concubinage, and we were bettering 
them all the time. In general terms, it can be stated that the married 
women are chaste. This living together without the ceremon3^ of the 
church is due to several causes — to objection on the part of the parents, 
for instance — previously the priest was the father of the people, and 
the authorities assisted the priest, but now, with the separation of 
church and state, we will have to attain the same ends b3^ different 
means. 

Q. Are the Visayan men of a jealous nature? 

A. Not as a rule. 

Q. He is not like the Ilocano? 

A. No. I have had two cases in nw jurisdiction — one of a man 
who killed his wife for unfaithfulness, and another of a man who was 
out fishing and was sunstruck and went home and killed his wife 
and another man, evidentl3^ without cause. 

Q. What course was pursued with reference to the occupanc3^ of 
one parish b3^ one parish priest, or were the3^ rotated in office ? 

A. There have been cases where priests have remained in one parish 
all their lives, but that depended on what was done b3^ the chapter, 
which met ever3^ four 3^ears. 

Q. And this chapter was made up of priests of the diocese? 

A. Of the presiding members of the religious bodies. The3^ would 
move them at there will, but their have been cases where the3^ have 
remained in one parish during their lives. Those that were onl3^ occu- 
pying temporar3^ posts were removed at the will of the bishop. Accord- 
ing to canonical law, there were some who could not be removed except 
for cause, and then they would be removed b3^ the chapter. In other 
words, there were charges which were for life or during good 
behavior. That applied to the secular priests, to the natives and to 
the Spaniards. There is one man in Jaro who is a native priest, and 
who has been fort3' vears in one pueblo. 

Q. How did 3^ou determine the selection of native priests, and how 
man3^ ordinaril3^ were there in a parish with the Spanish priests ? 
^ A. There are now Q6 native priests serving parishes in nw jurisdic- 
tion. There were TO, but 4: have died recently. The bishop himself 



118 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

would examine these natives in view of the examination he had passed 
in the seminary, and then assign them to the different parishes. Ordi- 
naril}" the course was with these native priests for the bishop to examine 
them and then habilitate them for one year, and at the end of one year 
reexamine them and assign them to some place. 

Q. What do you think of the natives intellectually; are they bright 
in learning and in retaining knowledge? 

A. I would hardly like to answer that question categorically, for there 
are some few of these natives that stand out among their brethren. 
There are some natives that are very bright men. I do not want to 
cast any reflection on them because of those who have remarkable 
aptitude. 

Q. Are the children quick to learn ? 

A. Yes, sir; they are quick to learn, generally speaking. They have 
an extraordinary capacity for learning a foreign language- — Spanish at 
first, and now English. 

Q. What supervision has the bishop over the diocese in each parish ? 
Did 3^ou visit each parish each year? 

A. We make a visit to each parish. I have not been able to, because 
I was elevated about the time this trouble arose. By reason of the 
blockade I was kept in Iloilo. Visits are made once in every three 
years because it is impossible to visit them all every year. As you can 
travel only about six months in the year on account of the rainy season, 
it takes about three years to go around. The bishop has a large fol- 
lowing, and as he has to perform ceremonies at each town, and as he 
has to visit the towns so as to arrive when the people are in the towns, 
it takes about two years. The arrival of a bishop in a town in olden 
times meant one or two feast days, and in times of harvest it would 
disturb the people. Usually they traveled between November and 
May. 

Q. Within your knowledge, have an}^ charges been made to the 
bishop of immorality among the parish priests 'i 

A. So far as I know, there have been no accusations made there. 
For a long number of years I was the vicar-general down there, hav- 
ing charge, under the bishop, of the different parishes, and I have not 
heard any case of an accusation of that kind. All the time I served as 
vicar-general the bishop sent me only three papers making accusa- 
tions of that character against the priests, and they were all anonymous, 
and I paid no attention to them. Whenever a parish priest wanted to 
get some disturbing spirits in a town before him, and they did not 
care to come, out of vengeance they would send a paper to the bishop 
accusing him of all kinds of immorality. There is a great inclination 
in this country toward anon3mious communications. 

Q. Then no priests in the diocese who have been disciplined for 
immorality, so far as you know? 

A. I know of none of my own knowledge, but among such a large 
number there must have been some disciplined, but I have been bishop 
only a short time and have never taken charge of the See. You must 
bear in mind it would be very strange if some priests should not fall. 
To send a young man out to what might be termed a desert, the only 
white man in the neighborhood, surrounded by elements of licentious- 
ness, with nobody but the Almighty to look to, with the climatic con- 
ditions urging him to follow the same practices as surround him, it is 
a miracle if he does not fall. For instance, you take a 3^oung man 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 119 

here in the seminary, who is reading his breviary all the time in the 
cloister, under discipline all the time, seeing nobody, and suddenly 
transplant him to a place where he is monarch of all he surveys, he 
sees the women half-clothed, and as he is consulted on all questions, 
even of morality and immoralit}^ his eves are opened, and if he is 
not strong, he will fall. When a curate is a hail-fellow well met and 
mixes in with the people, there is never a word said, but let him try 
to sta}^ apart and lead them to a better life, to elevate their thoughts 
in bringing them closer to religious views, and whether he is just as 
pure as anything can possibly be, they will accuse him of immorality. 
The very fact that if he is free and easy with them, and he knows if 
he is so, he can do anything, if he is prone to fall, that is another rea- 
son that would lead him astray. 

Q. In other words, as was suggested by the Reverend Provincial of 
the Recolotos, immorality, instead of making the people hostile to him, 
rather makes him popular with them? 

A. The only time when the}^ object to the priest is when he tries to 
make them perform their dut3^ All those who do like strict living 
are of course against him when he himself is rigid. 

Q. To what do jon attribute such hostility as exists against the 
friars in these islands ? 

A. Antagonism or hostility on the part of the mass of the people 
does not exist. There is hostility against them on the part of these 
few half-educated men who have been conspirators against the Spanish 
Government to the extent even of being sent away from the islands. 
The real reason is, sa}^ what j^ou mav, the supporter of the Spanish 
sovereignty here was the priests, and that is the reason that these peo- 
ple and not the masses were against them. So much is that so that 
General Rios, who was here in 1898, said ^'send your priests back into 
the parishes, for each priest in the parish is worth half a battalion to 
me and I have nothing but the priests to rely upon." 

Q. Do you know of any instance where the priests were the initiative 
cause of the deportation of a man from the parish ? 

A. No, sir; I do not. They were always called upon to report when 
charges were made b}^ the civil branch. This was the case not only 
with the Spanish parish priests, but also with the Filipino priests. 
Of course, the reports of the Filipino priests in these cases were looked 
at more closel3\ I do not know of a case where the initiative step 
was taken by the priest, but I do know of hundreds of cases where the 
priests stepped in to prevent deportation. When I answer this ques- 
tion you mast bear in mind that I refer to the islands in general, for 
so far as the Visayas are concerned, there have been no deportations 
whatever. Everything there was more peaceful and quiet. 

Q. What do you think of the morality of the native priests? 

A. My duty is to defend them and to chastise them when found 
guilty, but I will say it is bad. Being Indians, they can take their 
habits off and get in with the other Indians unknown, whereas a 
Spaniard with a white face would be recognized as not one of them. 
The Spaniard does not have the chance for evil doing as the native 
priest. There are very few, it is true, but still, there are some native 
priests down there now, and they are moving heaven and earth to 
keep me from going back to my diocese, for the}^ are having a great 
time in their parish, and they are arousing the newspapers to say that 
everything is well, and trying in every way to prevent my coming. 



120 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

I sent one of these men down to look matters up, but he is an Indian, 
and he himself has now joined with them and writing me letters. 
General Hughes knows this man. When I go down there I will let 
you know a little more. As I get the protection of the American 
arms, 1 am going to let them know what is going on. 

Q. Do you think the priests under you can return to the parishes 
(supposing the insurrection is suppressed)? Would the}^ be well 
received by the people? 

A. I think they can all return when the insurrection is at an end, but 
when is the insurrection going to end ? We receive daily letters from 
the provinces asking us to come back, but there are always two, three, 
or four of this disturbing element in these towns tr3ang to get the 
men up against us. There is no securit}" for any foreigner in any 
part of the Archipelago. We do not care to go back until things are 
settled. The day that the American Government shall establish a 
government throughout the Archipelago which shall insure security 
to life there will be no trouble at all for the priests to return, because 
the people there are even now comparing their peaceful, orderl}", 
quiet life to what they have been compelled to go through the last 
four years. There is a reason why the insurrectionists are against 
the priests, whether he belongs to an order or not; that is because he 
upholds the constituted authority; they preach that — the maintenance 
of law and order — and these insurrectos know that if they return and 
keep their power and advocate the maintenance of law and order 
the}^ will win the people to the support of the American Government. 
They do not want that, so they are tr3^ing to keep them awa3^ My 
own present representative in the Visayas, as the ecclesiastical gov- 
ernor, is an uncle of Silas (?), who was the most cruel of ail the insur- 
gents down there, and 1 feel sure that this gentleman of the cloth is 
down there disseminating revolutionary ideas. It will be a little 
premature to send the priests back to all their curacies now; but, for 
instance, to the island of Romblon, they could return to-morrow. 
There is an American garrison there and the people are quiet and 
orderl}^ In the three towns on the island of Tablas the}^ could go 
to only one. I do not think they could go to the island of Negros, 
especially the western part, where the government is now. The 
ones who are now in the government there are bitterly opposed to 
the friars. Carrying out the argument why they can not return to 
western Negros, I have lived there for twenty-two years and thought 
nothing was going to happen there, but the ver}^ men who were first 
to go into the insurgent ranks were those we thought beyond reproach, 
and the first thing they did was to go into the churches and steal 
everything; and the very man who is now presidente in that town 
never had a place to eat out of or a cup to drink out of. He has taken 
the plate and silver service of the convento, and if I were to return I 
woukl sa}^ he was a thief; and so they want us to be kept away, so 
that we can not recognize our property and throw it in their faces that 
they are thieves. I can prove l3y records that the}" have stolen at least 
$100,000 belonging to the different parishes, besides all of the plate 
belonging to the different conventos and churches. 

Q. On the subject of schools, we are directed to set up a system of 
public instruction ; and that is one of our most delicate missions, 
because it is a Catholic country, and it is likel}" to alwaj^s remain so, 
unless, as has been suggested to me by Archbishop Chappelle, the 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 121 

influence of the native priests may be toward idolatry and fetichism. 
Now, we are very anxious to establish amicable relations in regard to 
this school system with the church, and j^et we are restrained from 
doing certain things that the church would like to have us do by reason 
of the character of our Government, and we want, if possible, to recon- 
cile the desires of the church with the public-school system which we 
are here to establish. Now, in the United States there has been a 
system which has worked in some places by which all the difi'erent 
churches were given opportunity at the time the school was assembled 
to have a teacher or a priest to instruct the scholars one-half 
hour before they entered upon the regular curriculum of the school, 
or one-half hour afterwards, and it has been suggested that some such 
system as that might work harmoniously here. I would be obliged to 
you if you would think that over and understand the spirit in which we 
come here and see if it is not possible to reconcile the school system 
on the one hand to the views of the church and on the other hand to 
the restrictions that we are obliged to operate on. 

A. Under the Spanish system the Spanish priest had no salary 
whatever. He was an inspector of schools. He would go to see if the 
methods pursued were proper ones, but there was no salary attached. 

Q. While, of course, we can not make invidious distinctions with 
respect to teachers coming out here, we hope to have certainly a fair 
proportion of Catholics among them. We are not a Catholic countrj^ — 
that is, a majorit}^ are not Catholics. Nevertheless, we do justice to 
every sect, and we expect here that a fair proportion of the teachers 
will be Catholics. 

A. It is one thing to demand a thing to be done and another to sa}^ 
that there is no objection to its being done. There might be no set 
rule with respect to that at all and let the bishop and the parish 
priest continue as they are now, for there would be no objection on 
the part of the parents of the children. 

Q. I know that these matters are usually arranged with the bishop ; 
that they are largely in his control, and I am very anxious to have the 
bishop understand that we are not here for the purpose of proselyting, 
and what we want to do is to adapt the schools we contemplate intro- 
ducing as nearly as we can to conditions here. 

A. Much would be gained by leaving out of the school law any ref- 
erence to religion whatever, because if it is stated there that there 
must be no religious subject treated in the school, that would make it 
possible for anyone in the town to bring the danger before the people 
and make some trouble, but it would be much better to omit entirely 
in the school law any reference to religion. That is a question that 
will have to be handled with gloves. Here it has been the custom to 
teach reading, writing, the catechism, and a little arithmetic, and if 
the American authorities say that there will be no religion taught in 
the schools it will be a fatal mistake, for they will say they even wipe 
out our religion, the religion of our forefathers. 

Q. W^e hope to avoid any bad mistake of that kind, but you must 
understand that there are restrictions on the other side that I have 
referred to — that there is a large constituency in the United States 
which is not Catholic, and has a right to insist that public-school 
teaching paid for out of the public funds be nonsectarian — and we 
have to pursue a middle and just course, which I think we can possibly 
arrive at by making concessions on both sides, and still not ofl'end 
either view. 



122 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

A. That is the very thing I say; not to require by law that doctrine 
shall be left out, but to keep silent on it entirely. 

Q. My opinion is that sensible men when they get together can 
accomplish a good deal, and 1 shall be glad when the matter comes up 
more acutely to have further conference with you and your colleagues 
on the subject. 

A. I am at your disposition at an^^ time. 

Q. How many of the priests of your diocese were assaulted or in 
prison during the revolution ? 

A. Three in Iloilo and 37 in Negros. Most of those in Iloilo were 
able to get out of the way before they were caught. As we have such 
great confidence in the inhabitants of Negros, we did not leave there, 
and the revolution began there in all the towns on the same day, and so 
the}^ were caught. Those in Negros were in prison for three months. 
Those three in Iloilo were from the interior and did not have time to 
leave the countr3\ The}^ were Augustinians. Those in Negros w^ere 
Recolletos. Our duty now is to the American Government, to obey 
it and further its interests to the best of our ability. [Gives the presi- 
dent a list of the property of the church in his diocese — all devoted to 
religious purposes. Nothing rented at all. They are occupied by 
American troops now and maybe possibly they will pay.] 

Q. Is there an obras pias and a miter fund in A^our diocese? 

A. Only in the island of Negros — there is a parcel of six hectares 
left by a priest for the purpose of worshiping St. Joseph, and another 
left by a Spaniard to the church at Jaro. 

Expressions of thanks. 



August 7, 1900. 
BISHOP OF VIGAN. 

Q. What is- your diocese ? 

A. Nueva Segovia, in the island of Luzon. The residence is in 
Yigan, and I am usually known as the Bishop of Vigan. 

Q. And you are a member of the Augustinians? 

A. The Dominicans, and the person accompanying me is the vicar- 
general of the Dominican order. 

Q. What actual political function had the parish priests got into the 
habit of exercising under the Spanish Government? 

A. The parish priests acted as intermediary between the people 
and the Government; as they were in nearly every case the onl}^ edu- 
cated Spaniards in the different towns, the}^ were called upon by the 
Government to act as interpreter of all laws and to perform certain 
political functions. With the exception of perhaps seven towns in 
my diocese, where there were a few Spaniards besides the priests, the 
others were places where the priest, being a person well versed in 
philosoph}", canonical law, etc., was called upon to be the medium 
of interchange of communication between the Government and the 
people. 

Q. The Government had no representative in many of the villages 
upon whom it could depend except the priests? 

A. Only in the capitals or provincial seats. All the statistics that 
were requested by the Government were obtained and furnished by 
the parish priests. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 123 

Q. And the Government kept putting more and more duties of a 
civil nature upon the priests ? 

A. Constantly; and very naturally man}^ of the dislikes engendered 
in the people against the friars was due to this putting upon the priests 
civil functions which the}" were realh^ not called upon to perform. 

Q. Now, how man}^ native priests were there and how were the}^ dis- 
tributed throughout \'our diocese? 

A. In the 3'ear 1896 there were 131 ordained priests, 5 deacons, and 
12 subdeacons, all natives; 66 Augustinian priests, 91 Dominicans, and 
1 Franciscan; secular priests, 7. These were all Europeans. Six we 
call here missions were not, properly speaking, parishes. 

Q. That was the case with Benguet? 

A. Yes, sir. There were three missions in Benguet, and as they 
became influenced by the Christian religion they were brought into 
settlements. 

Q. And you will let me keep this book to which you are referring? 

A. Yes, sir. In 1896 the diocese of Nueva Segovia had 997,629 
Christians subject to my ecclesiastical control. There were at that 
time 172,383 pagans. 

Q. In Benguet and up in the mountains? 

A. Within all the district within my jurisdiction. Two thousand 
foar hundred and ninety-nine were in Benguet. Very few there had 
been reduced to Christian influence. 

Q. The Government of Spain paid a stipend to its priests ? 

A. Yes, sir. The bishops, parish priests, and missionaries. 

Q. And the salaries of the parish priests, I have heard, varied from 
^500 to $1,200. 

A. Yes, sir; the majority between |500 and |800, according to the 
class of the town. 

Q. What rule, if an}", was followed with respect to assigning native 
priests to parishes? How did you distribute them? Did jon furnish 
one or two to each parish priest? 

A. Aside from the seven who were parish priests, the other hundred 
natives were distributed among the other parishes as coadjutors or 
assistors to the Spanish priests under the bishops, who could move 
them around as the}" pleased. 

Q. A¥as there general rotation among the parish priests, or did a 
man stay until he was superannuated in the place to which he was 
first assigned ? 

A. There were two classes of parish priests, those designated in a 
temporary capacity to serve as parish priests and those who were per- 
manent priests. The latter could not be removed except after some 
accusation and after trial and found guilty. 

Q. How did the number of permanent parish priests compare with 
the number of temporary parish priests ? 

A. As a matter of fact there never was any person who occupied a 
permanent position, for every four years there was held a chapter, 
when they elected a new provincial and other officials of the order, 
and at that time it was determined how the priests should be distrib- 
uted around. Now, with the Augustinians they might be called 
permanent priests, but with respect to the Dominicans they occupied 
temporary charges more than otherwise. 

Q. How were the churches and conventos built? 

A. The churches, where either razed to the ground by any typhoon 
or earthquake, or in the case of new parishes the churches and the 



124 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

conventos were built by order of the bishop. Acting as the patron, 
the Government was under obligation to pay a certain amount — usually 
about $500 — for new missions; but very often the Government failed 
to pay over the money, but they furnished it in labor. They would 
take men who had not worked out their road tax; they would take two 
out of each district, and in this diocese there were 40 districts, which 
would make 80 men, to work on conventos and churches, which was 
considered public work. The parish priests would provide the sub- 
sistence of these men while working there. Very often the funds were 
supplied by the parishioners themselves, and very often the parishion- 
ers would go and do day-labor on the building. In some parishes there 
were sometimes many thousands of dollars collected for the church 
fund, and where churches weie demolished by earthquakes or typhoons 
in other districts, the bishop, who had charge of these church funds, 
would order them to another parish to restore demolished propert3\ 

Q. On what lands were the churches and conventos built? 

A. Either the Government or the municipal authorities, in case of 
the foundation of new parishes, would convey to the church the ground 
upon which the church and convento were built, and sometimes the 
ground was bought, but very rarely. In the large majority of cases 
the Government or the town itself donated the land. 

Q. It was usually on the public square? 

A. Alongside the plaza, and if it was the provincial seat, it was on 
one side of the plaza opposite the Government house. 

Q. In whose name was that land ordinarily taken ? Was there a 
deed, or was it one of those cases where a deed was not considered 
necessary ? 

A. Up to a very few years ago there was no such thing as the record- 
ing of title deeds, and consequentl}^ no deeds were given. Most was 
held b}^ right of prescription, for there being no recorder's office it 
was passed from one to anothei' by word of mouth. 

Q. Now, in the United States (for I do not know how it is in other 
countries), the title of the church is usually in the name of the bishop 
or the archbishop. Is that followed in these islands ? 

A. That is the custom here also. 

Q. And the bishop, when he dies, makes a will in which he conveys 
his propert}^ to his successor? 

A. The same here. According to canonical law the bishop is the 
representative of the church. 

Q. We want to do justice here and we want to have the property 
to go to the person to whom it belongs, even though the records may 
not be straight. Now, don't you think it would be in accordance with 
canonical law, and in accordance with the equit}^ and justice of the 
case, should the title of the churches and conventos now in the Govern- 
ment of the United States by transmission from the Government of 
Spain be transferred by the authorized representative of the United 
States to the bishop of the diocese for the use of the Catholic inhab- 
itants of the parish? I assume there are man}^ places where there is 
no title, and there are probably cases where the churches and conventos 
were built on public lands. 

A. The cases are very few where there is any doubt as to the own- 
ership of the property, and I believe the idea suggested is a ver}^ good 
one. In the majority of cases the title resides in the church and can 
be proven by the very people in the parishes, because they can show 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 125 

tUey have had it from time immemorial. That plan would be very 
well thought of also by all of the parishioners, because they are all 
Catholics. 

Q. And the better Catholics the}' are the better citizens the}^ will 
make? 

A. Yes, sir; because the teachings of the church are to alwa3^s 
respect the constituted authority'. 

Q. But we hear from parishioners in various parts of the islands 
that the}' built the churches and therefore they should be held for their 
use. Now, if it is given to the bishop for their use that satisfies the 
laws of the church on one side and the statement of the use satisfies 
their views on the other? 

A. It is a ver}' good idea. When these Indians or parishioners 
worked upon these church buildings they gratuitoush' offered to do it 
for the church; consequently they divested themselves of an}" title. 

Q. But they knew it was for their use ? 

A. Yes, sir; and it will never be taken away from them. Suppose 
I should die, or go to Spain, the churches will remain here for their use. 

Q. How much agricultural land, how many haciendas, were owned 
by the orders in your diocese? 

A. There is but one hacienda which is owned by the orders, and 
that by the Augustinians, in the province of La Isabela, in the valley 
of the Cagayan. In the year 1878, when Morenias was governor-gen- 
eral here, he desired of his own motion to encourage the planting and 
raising of tobacco, and gave to each of the different religious orders 
in the islands a hacienda. He even wanted to do that with the Fran- 
ciscans, but they said they could not accept it, but the governor said 
you must. I do not know what became of that. Afterwards, Primo 
de Riviera came here and he wanted it all back, and they all gave it 
back except the Augustinians, who declined to give it up, saying it was 
given voluntarily, and they never have given it up. It is about 28 
milles in length and 14 miles in width. Very good land, but very few 
inhabitants, not more than 200. 

Q. Has the order spent a good deal of money on it ? 

A. It has spent some, but not much, as there are very few people 
there. As there are a great many inhabitants in Ilocos, they spent sev- 
eral thousand dollars in taking families from Ilocos down to this land. 
This is all valley land and among the best in the islands. At the point 
where this hacienda is located there are 30 leagues of level plain coun- 
try. Those three provinces known as the valley of the Cagayan, 
although the richest and finest in Luzon, only contain about 170,000 
inhabitants, and they can easily support 1,000,000. The great river 
Cagayan is navigable up to the lower part of the province of Isabela. 

Q. The tobacco company owns largely up there? 

A. They only own two towns up here — the hacienda of San Anto- 
nio and of Santa Isabela. 

Q. Is there a good deal of public land up there ? 

A. Yes, sir; a great deal of uncultivated and public lands. Anybody 
who wanted to secure land up there had to buy it from the State. 
They would sell it very cheaply; they would give thousands of hec- 
tares for half a dollar. They wanted to encourage the entry of the 
land by Ilocanos. 

Q. The Ilocanos are a better race than the Tagalogs ? 

A. Yes, sir; and much more saving, more economical, more indus- 
trious. 



126 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. The}^ don't stop working when the}" have earned a little, as the 
Tagalog does ? 

A. The}" are all tarred with the same tar in that respect; they don't 
work too mach, but they work more than the Tagalogs. They won't 
•die working. 

Q. Are they more honest than the Tagalogs ? 

A. Yes, sir, generally. In Cagayan and Ilocos they are very sub- 
missive. Unfortunately, the Tagalogs have a little gathering of 
philosophers here who are disseminating these ideas among the peo- 
ple which has caused everything to be lost. 

Q. We have a saying in America that ''A little knowledge is a dan- 
gerous thing?" 

A. We were for sixteen months prisoners of the Tagalogs in 
Cagayan. 

Q. And you were subjected to many great indignities? 

A. Yes, sir; many. A man who graduated in medicine in 1898 from 
the university was one. Because I declined to ordain certain natives, 
because under the canonical law they were not ripe for ordination, he 
kicked me, and broke a cane over my left arm, kept that up for three 
hours, because I would not ordain the priests. This man, known as 
Villa, was military governor of Isabela. When he assaulted me he 
was nothing. He came there without any authority, and asked me 
why I did not ordain these native priests. I replied that I was pro- 
hibited by the canonical law, as they did not come up to the require- 
ments, and he said, "You will ordain them to-morrow, because I say 
so." I replied that I would not even if he killed me, and because I 
did not do it, on the following day he assaulted me very severely. 

Q. Do you suppose that that was encouraged by the insurgent 
general or colonel who was in charge? 

A. The colonel who was in command of the entire valley was pres- 
ent at the time and said nothing. 

Q. Who was the colonel? 

A. Daniel Tirona. He kicked me in the stomach several times, but 
I protected myself with my arm, and it took two months to recover. 
The day following this he took a steamer and came down this way and 
that is the last we have heard from him. That was just the eve of the 
outbreak of hostilities in Manila, February 3, 1899. 

Q. From what you have stated, I assume that there was no such 
general ownership by the religious orders in your diocese of lands 
and agricultural properties as to attract the hostility of the parish- 
ioners on the ground that the priests occupied the relation of land- 
lord to the people ? 

A. No. 

Q. These estates you have referred to are so far removed and in an 
uninhabited country that they would not have any effect generally on 
the people? 

A. All we had there were 200 men, one priest, and a lay brother on 
the entire hacienda. There was no parish. . 

Q. And that was the only place in the entire diocese where there 
was property? 

A. The only one. There are in some cases small parcels of land 
which have been donated to the Church for saying one mass a year for 
the repose of departed souls. The proceeds of tilling the ground and 
cultivating would only be at the most about $100 a year. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 127 

, Q. Is there improved property in the cit}^ of Vigan, in Aparri, and 
in San Fernando del Union, or in Loag, that is used for rental pur- 
poses b}" an}^ of the orders ? 

A. We own nothing except church propert}^ which is now occupied 
l)y the American troops. The Dominicans have two colleges, one in 
Dagupan for secondary instruction of males, and one in Lingayen 
which is a girls' school. The Sisters used to go there to teach the 
girls. At Togagaro there is a large girls' school now occupied by 
American troops. The teaching in this school was conducted b}^ the 
Dominican Sisters here from Manila. The bishop built a ver}^ good 
school for girls in Vigan, now occupied by American troops, and the 
Episcopal palace and the seminar}^ also is occupied by American troops. 
If 3^ou desire it, I have here the answers to all the questions. It is 
badly written, but I shall be glad to present it to you. 

Q. Now, as to the question of what part the priests plaj^ed in the 
deportation of citizens of the islands who were sent out by order of 
the captain-general? 

A. The guardia civil, which was a body known during the Spanish 
rule, would often report to the civil governor that certain persons 
were a disturbing element in the neighborhood. The civil governor 
would then report to the governor-general, who would ask for a report, 
and the antecedents of the party so accused, of the parish priests, and 
in view of the report of the civil governor and the parish priest the 
governor-general would act, but no one was ever expelled upon the 
exclusive report of the parish priest. Very often the parish priest 
would intercede in behalf of some person accused by the guardia civil 
upon groundless charges, and would succeed b}' appealing to the 
governor-general in preventing him from being deported, and the 
archbishop here in Manila, who was right on the ground, succeeded in 
preventing a great many men from being unjustly expelled. 

Q. Is it a fact that the priests never initiated such action ? 

A. I believe so. I know of no single case where parish priests did 
initiate such charges. I have never been advised of one, and if there 
has been a case it is rare. 

Q. You have mentioned the "guardia civil." Will 3^ou be good 
enough to tell me what that was ? 

A. The guardia civil was a body at once civil and militar3\ The}^ 
had military uniforms, equipment, and arms, but they w^ere under the 
civil governor. In the entire island of Luzon they had no arni}^. The 
army was in Mindanao. These men performed police duty as well as 
garrison duty. 

Q. The}^ were a provincial constabularj^ ? 

A. Yes, sir; the men in the regular army who had the best record 
were taken to form this guardia civil. 

Q. Were they all natives ? 

A. No; all the noncommissioned officers and commissioned officers 
were Spaniards, and the others all natives. 

Q. Did not it occur that the}^ frequently abused their power? 

A. Yes, sir; the natives are always prone to abuse their authority. 
If some one here is not above them they will abuse their authority all 
the time. 

Q. They squeeze? 

A. Yes, sir; the}^ are terrible to their own people — very tja-ants. 
The presidentes of towns who are natives themselves held their sub- 
ordinates in terror. Thej^ govern by fear here. 



128 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. They were paid nothing and were expected to get it out of the 
people? 

A. Yes, sir; that is true. The presidentes were not paid any salary; 
it was an honorar}^ position, but they made their money out of the 
people. The natives are great abusers of authority always. 

Q. It seems to me that the appointment of an officer who has a good 
deal to do without providing a salary is an intimation that he is 
expected to make his money that way. 

A. That is true. When they do speak sincerely to the priest and 
let themselves out they admit that they can not govern themselves. 
Very often when we were in prison they would say "We can not gov- 
ern ourselves." They prefer to dominate the others by force, and 
they have no compassion. 

Q. Have they not been guilty of extreme cruelty to their own people 
during the war? 

A. Terribly so. It can hardly be explained how they could go to 
such extremes, and for that reason they have got the mass of the 
people unable to move; they are afraid. I have been a curate and 
speak the Tagalog language and the}^ used to tell me, "We have no 
respect for a man at all; we would just as soon kill a man as a chicken." 
Prior to 1896 homicides were ver}^ rare. Those were all for jealousy, 
for some man taking their women away from them, and the small 
criminal record they had was admirable. 

Q. Are they a jealous race ? 

A. Yes, sir; the Ilocanos are the worst. They become absolutely 
insane, and they are never satisfied till they kill the party. Even the 
Igorrottes have the death penalty for women who are unfaithful. 

Q. Now, about the Igorrotte», they are a quiet people, are they 
not? 

A. Some of those who had been Christianized had a very respectful 
bearing toward the priests and the few Spaniards who mixed among 
them; but the Igorrottes in the mountains are a wild and savage people 
and they will cut anybody's head off they find. It is a great glory and 
honor to cut anj^body's head off. I do not think that of these savage 
head hunters there are over 100,000 in Benguet. The only tribute 
they paid was two reales, a recognition of vassalage, in Benguet, 
Lepanto, Bontoc, and Abra. Some of them did really pay 50 cents — 
those who had become Christians, but that only since 1893. 

Q. Were there cases of immorality among the priests of your 
diocese ? 

A. I have been there ten j^ears as a bishop. There have only been 
two cases brought to my attention and I reported them for correction. 
They were both Augustinians. There was also one case of a Domin- 
ican, and he was chastised also. Whenever a case was brought to the 
notice of the bishop, and it was established, this chastisement was 
administered; but very often cases were brought out of revenge on the 
part of the Indians which were not entitled to credence, because they 
were always accompanied by calumnies. 

Q. Would it have been possible for such things to have occurred 
without being brovight to your attention, or being discovered by the 
provincial ? 

A. Some may have, I do not know. As soon as there was any 
rumor of a case it was always investigated. Ever}^ year the bishop 
not onl}^ paid a visit to all the parishes, but also to all the orders as 
well as to the provincial of the order. 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 129 

Q. Did each order have a house in each diocese ? 

A. The}" have at parishes only. The head houses are all here. 

Q. Do jou know pretty well now the character of the native priests 
who have taken the place of the parish priests ? 

A. I know nearly all of them personally, and 1 have often visited 
the different places. 

Q. Is the standard of education and character lower with them than 
with the parish priests ? 

A. Very much lower; no comparison. They are educated in the 
seminaries. They learn quickly, but the^^ forget quickly, and they 
have not much capacity. They are from twelve to fourteen 3"ears in 
the seminary learning- and they have to pass a good examination before 
being sent out, but the}^ are not out long before they forget it. 

Q. Are they given to immoral practices? 

A. They are yery weak, very frail. The immense majority of the 
men in the regular orders are pure and good. It is just the opposite 
with these: the immense majoritj^ are frail and weak. Even in the 
case of white Spaniards, who might have had a weakness with respect 
to women, still he had a good head and never allowed the matter to 
create a scandal. It was never known of men, but these people did 
not care. 

Q. Do 3'ou think that a weakness of that sort on the part either of 
a Spanish priest or of a native priest would render him particularly 
unpopular in the region in which he lived? 

A. Not at all. In the immense majority of cases of that kind the 
people have not made any complaint. I had to go and find out about 
these things. I did not investigate them judicially, but had to go 
about it in an irregular way to find out the truth. There never has 
been a formal accusation of immorality made in my diocese. When 
the}" wanted to wreak their revenge on a priest they bring this out and 
a thousand other charges of all kinds of heinous immorality. When 
formal charges have been made by several residents of a community, 
and they have signed a paper, they are brought up before the bishop, 
and when they are requested to take an oath the}^ say they were de- 
ceived, they did not want to sign the paper. 

Q. So that the suggestion that the hostility against the Spanish 
priests in their parishes is due to immorality-, you do not think there is 
anything in that at all, even assuming that it exists? 

A. Not at all; undoubtedly not. They do not care a hang about it. 

Q. It was suggested b}- the provincial of the recoletos that it rather 
made a man popular than otherwise, because it prevented him from 
being particularly strict with the rest of the parish. 

A. There is a good deal in that. They have a ver}^ meager idea of 
public morality. 

Q. But the women, on the whole, in a certain way, are very chaste, 
are they not? 

A. Yes, sir; in public. At reunions they do not even like a sug- 
gestive word, but in secret their virtue is not so great. 

Q. Are not the husbands of the women jealous of attentions to them 
b}^ other men ? 

A. Ordinarily; yes. The Ilocanos are ver}^ jealous — even when they 
are unfaithful themselves they are so. 

Q. Are you still in communication with a large part of the parishes 
in 3"our diocese? Have you letters from some of your parishioners? 
S. Doc. 190 9 



130 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

A. Yes, sir; 1 received two letters to-day from Pangasinan. I have 
communication with all of them, not only with the people, but also 
with the native priests. They are all desirous that they shall return 
there soon. The only thing we are afraid of is the Katicunans. 

Q. Do you think you could assume your sacerdotal functions with- 
out fear of personal violence? 

A. In the two Ilocos there is considerable disturbance yet, and the 
people are giving- much trouble to the American troops and even the 
native priests are fearful of attack from the Katapunans. They also 
fear the American troops because they have an idea that the Americans 
think they are in with the insurgents. Four of the priests are being 
held by the Americans for complicity with the insurrectionary forces. 
Gregoria Agllipan is a native of Ilocos Norte. He was ordained in 
Manila. He was in Manila as coadjutor of several parishes, and when 
the revolution broke out he joined the revolutionary forces. 

Q. Is he a man of any force ? 

A. He has not a good presence; he is a plain man; nor is he half as 
well educated as many other native priests.' They made him a vicar- 
general in the Malolos government. He wanted to expel the arch- 
bishop and all the bishops. There is an officer in Spain called a vicar- 
general, appointed by the Pope, whose particular jurisdiction is con- 
fined to the army and the navy, and that is what that man wanted to 
be. He gave himself that name and went over to the insurgents about 
September, 1898. In November he came to Cagayan to talk to me. 
While there he was kept in close confinement and not allowed to 
communicate with any one, not even those in the town. He sent for 
me and had me brought down to Aparri, and there presented us with 
several letters from priests he had named in difi'erent parts of the 
diocese, saying that it would be very advisable to have him, Gregorio, 
appointed the ecclesiastical governor for that diocese, under the pre- 
text that by being named ecclesiastical governor, the bishop himself 
being in sole confinement, he could secure from the government of 
Malolos the release of all these ecclesiastical prisoners. As I could 
not communicate with other places, the authority was relegated to this 
man. That is, some authority. Armed with this authority he went to 
Malolos and claimed to be above the bishop from whom the authority 
flowed; but they would not even listen to mass by him. Since then 
he has been excommunicated. When all these things reached the ears 
of the archbishop he publicly excommunicated him and when that 
news reached Nueva Segovia and other places the insurrectors said 
that would not hold water and they protested against it; but a greater 
part of the superior officers of the insurrection and a large part of the 
faithful believed it perfectly and that his holy order should be taken 
away from him. 

Q. Where is he now? 

A. In Ilocos Norte, at the head of a large body of insurgents in the 
mountains. In the month of April last he went down to Loag, a town 
of 40,000 inhabitants. He has no prestige among the Christians now 
because he has been excommunicated; some of the clergy fear him, 
but they have no regard for him whatever. If there were a little 
more energy on the part of the military when they caught some 
people to chastise them, the people would be better satisfied. During 
the latter months of our imprisonment and confinement General 
Tirona gave us a great deal more freedom, allowed us to walk around 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 131 

and to meet our parishioners, and all of them, without exception, 
would say they were tired to death of the impositions of the Katapu- 
nans and the war, and they were only waiting the arrival of the Ameri- 
cans to pursue their avocations in peace. 

Q. How long were you confined ? 

A. Sixteen months. 

Q. Then you have only recently been released? 

A. The 1st of January. I was released by the arrival of the Ameri- 
can troops. Some navy boats went around to Aparri, the commander 
of the Helena and troops went up on the other side from Nueva Ecija 
through to Isabella, and then Tirona said we had better get out of 
here, and finding that he did not have sufficient force to expel the 
Americans, he surrendered at Aparri. 

Q. What kind of a man do you think he is? 

A. He is a peculiar man; he has very little stamina to act for him- 
self, but lets other people do it. When Tirona's forces arrived at 
Aparri, which was being defended by the Spaniards, they drew up 
articles of capitulation, and the first thing after they left they broke 
every one of those articles. Sixty priests had gone down there from 
Ilocos and they proceeded to rob them of everything they possessed. 

Q. How many priests in your diocese were assaulted or imprisoned ? 

A. All of those in the valley of the Cagayan were imprisoned and 
nearly every one of them was assaulted and robbed. And in Ilocos the 
same wa3^ When the insurrectionary forces advanced I called all those 
from Ilocos to come down to Vigan, because steamers sometimes called 
there from Hongkong. We waited there eight days, when the insurrec- 
tionary forces came down and captured us in a steamer which belonged 
to a tobacco company here. The crew mutinied and killed the Spanish 
officers and came up there. Then they sent that steamer back to 
Cavite and 600 of the insurrectionary forces got on board and came up. 

Q. I want to get from you the proportion of the Spanish priests in 
your diocese that were imprisoned? 

A. One hundred and thirty were imprisoned. Most of them were 
at Aparri. 

Q. How many of those priests have since left the islands? 

A. Many of them have left for Spain by reason of the disease con- 
tracted during this imprisonment and the hardships to which they 
were subjected. Some of them were horribly maltreated. Between 
25 and 30 have left. 

Q. Were any of the priests of your diocese killed ? 

A. None were killed, but one died of wounds received. There is 
one father here in the convent of Santo Domingo who was beaten 8,000 
times in a few days. It is a wonder he has not died. 

Q. Has he regained his strength ? 

A. Yes, sir; he is in fairly good condition now. They carried him 
on foot 40 leagues up the valley of the Cagayan and 40 leagues 
back. Prior to that he suffered a great deal with his stomach; now it 
is a great deal better. This beating with a stick brought all the 
impurities out of him. 

Q. How many Spanish priests were there in your diocese ? 

A. About 165. 

Q. Is this rather a small diocese? 

A. It is larger than the one in Nueva Caceres, but smaller than the 
one in Jaro or Cebu. The archbishopric has 2,000,000 souls, with four 



132 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

bishops. The one at Cebu has about 1,400,000, and Jaro 1,200,000. 
Eveiy year the bishop made a statement more in detail than this; that 
is, one cop3^ was sent to the governor-general and one to the archbishop. 

Q. The archbishop, as I understand it, is superior to all other 
bishops in the islands ? 

A. Yes, sir ; he is the metropolitan. 

Q. But he has a diocese of his own? 

A. Yes, sir ; he is a bishop for his diocese and the archbishop over 
all. Some questions come to him on appeal from the bishops. With 
respect to the ordinary jurisdiction within our own diocese the bishop 
has the same jurisdiction as the archbishop over his. 

Q. There are the bishops of Vigan, of Nueva Caceres, of Cebu, and 
of Jaro ; and the bishop of Cebu is the bishop over Mindanao — or is 
that missionary ? 

A. Partly under the bishop of Cebu and partly under the bishop of 
Jaro. Before 1867 it was under Cebu, and then, when they sent a 
bishop to Jaro they divided it between them. 

Q. And the bishop of Jaro has all of the island of Panay ? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Have you anything to do with the '"' obras pias" in Manila? 

A. No, sir ; only those little pieces of land left for saying mass about 
once a year. 

Q. And you have nothing to do with the "miter fund" here? 

A. No ; nothing. Such proportion of the miter fund as was nec- 
essary to aid the church was sent from here to the diocese. The 
miter fund is administered here. If there were a miter fund in my 
diocese, I would administer it. Here the miter fund has several houses 
which are administered by the archbishop, but in my diocese there 
are none. 

Q. There is one question I would like to ask you: To what do you 
attribute the hostility, such as exists, to the parish priests ? 

A. It comes from what we call the impious element. For some 
years past they have been planting freer ideas in the Philippine Islands — 
ideas that are nonreligious and non-Catholic, and a few half-educated 
people have espoused those ideas, and as the}^ convert everything into 
politics, they have converted that into politics and they have dissemi- 
nated the idea that Catholicism is to be put to an end here, and they 
have endeavored to sow the seeds of discord among the six millions 
Catholic souls in these islands, and, too, notwithstanding the great 
majority of the people liked the priests and would like to have them 
back. If you take away from the islands about 1,000 persons who are 
sowing these seeds of discord the remaining 6,000,000 will be perfectly 
satisfied. In Manila this element is most largely represented. 

Q. We are charged with the duty of raising money by taxation to 
establish a system of education. We realize fully that this is a Catho- 
lic country, and if it ceases to be a Catholic country it is much more 
likely in some regions to go into idolatry than to Protestantism, and I 
am therefore anxious, so far as I may, to establish a school system that 
will meet the views of the church, ithat is, that will not be hostile to 
the views of the church, but we are restricted by the principles of our 
Government from the direct presence of the church in the schools, and 
I am attempting to devise some method to suggest to the commission 
by which we shall reconcile the consciences of the Catholics to the pub- 
lic school and still follow the principles we have suggested, and there- 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 133 

fore I have thought that if we were to invite the Catholic Church and 
other churches, if any in the neighborhood, to send teachers of their 
respective religions to the schools half an hour before school and half 
an hour after school, there to give such religious instruction as the 
parents of the children may desire, whether that system would not, if 
conducted with fairness and justice, perhaps reconcile our system of 
public education to the views of the Catholic Church? 

A. The best way to do that would be to teach them the catechism 
as a Christian doctrine. That s37-stem mig-ht work all right in another 
country, but I do not think it will work here, because, among the 
Indians, if the}^ are called upon to contribute to the support of a public- 
school system they naturally, being Catholics, will want Catholic ideas 
to be communicated by the teachers provided by their money, and they 
will say, "These teachers do not teach any Christian doctrine. If we 
pa}^ for instruction we want our children instructed in the Catholic 
faith." Now, if the Government is going to pay the party who goes 
there to instruct them in the Catholic faith, that will be entirely different. 

Q. But I fear we do not have the power to pay for that instruction. 
We hope to get a proper proportion of Catholic teachers. Of course 
we can not go into the United States and advertise for Catholic teach- 
ers, but we can exert our authority to see that selections are made in 
such a way as to secure a fair proportion. But when it comes to 
religious instruction, I fear we can not put the public funds to that 
purpose. 

A. It is better to stud}^ the question. 

Q. Yes; I would like to have you think it over, and we count on 
the assistance of the Catholic Church to aid us in the difficult problem 
we have to meet. Some of the difficulties of that problem are made by 
the conditions in these islands, and others are made by the restrictions 
of the Constitution of the United States. 

A. Yes, sir; we understand that the conditions have entirely 
changed and, following out the tenets of our church, we will respect 
the constituted authority, and we will see that all coming under the ban 
of the church respect that authority, and we will endeavor to see if 
some means can not be discovered for harmonizing the old ways and 
the new. 

Expressions of thanks. 



INTERVIEW WITH SENOR DON FELIPE CALDER6N, OCTOBER 

17, 1900. 

Q. How long have you lived in the Philippines ? 

A. Thirt}^ years — just my age — except for a period of eight months, 
when I made a few trips in the British possessions. 

Q. In what part of the islands have you lived ? 

A. I was born in the province of Cavite and was educated in Manila, 
but I have been through nearly all the Tagalog provinces of Luzon. 
I have resided in Manila, you might say, continuously, with the excep- 
tion of a few trips to Batangas. 

Q. Mrs. Calderon came from Batangas ? 

A. Yes. 

Q. And you have visited your wife's relatives ? 



134 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

A. Yes. 

Q. How much personal opportunity had you before the 3^ear 1896 
to observe the relations between the friars and the people of their 
parishes in a religious, social, and a political way ? 

A. Much; because I have lived, as I have stated, in Manila nearly 
all ni}^ life, and in view of the conditions prevailing here, where the 
friar is intimately connected with all the social, political, and other 
life, I have been able to judge of him in all those three lines; and the 
same ma}^ be said of the provinces. 

Q. How man}^ friars have you known personally — a good many? 

A. Very many. In the first place, I have known nearly all the 
Jesuits, because I was educated by them, but I may add that the 
Jesuits are not friars. 1 have known all the friars of Santo Tomas, 
beginning with Archbishop Nozaleda, who was one of my professors. 

Q. And you have the degree of the university ? 

A. Like all the other lawyers here, because there was no other col- 
lege. All professional men received their degrees from that university, 
because it was the only one. 

Q. What class of society were the friars drawn from in Spain ? 

A. I can not state of my own knowledge, but quoting the friars 
themselves and persons who have traveled extensively in Spain, I 
should say that they came from the lowest orders of society; and this 
is corroborated by the fact that the majority, if not all of them, when 
they first come have not the slightest conception of social forms or 
etiquette, and it might be said they have the hair of the dog on them. 

Q. Were there not a good many well-educated friars ? 

A. The fact is that they are almost totally unconscious of proper 
social forms. They act indecently and use indecent expressions in the 
presence of ladies in public to such an extent that I was forced on one 
occasion to throw out a friar who was not only using indecent lan- 
guage, but acting indecently in the presence of my wife. Educated men 
there are among them, but nearly all of them lack social polish, which 
corroborates the fact that they are from the lowest orders. 

Q. Do the orders differ at all in this respect? 

A. They do differ considerably. You could draw distinctions. For 
instance, it may be said that the Augustinians, the Recolletos, the 
Dominicans, and the Franciscans are the four orders that have the 
least education. 

Q. I mean as between those four. 

A. Of these four it seems that the Augustinians have a little more 
social polish, but the Franciscans are the last link of the chain. They 
are absolutely bereft of any idea even of social polish or etiquette. 
The Jesuits, for instance, have, it may be said, a very fair conception 
of social forms, and it is said they are chosen from the upper families. 
I know several of them, and 1 am certain that they come from distin- 
guished families. The Paulist fathers also have more culture and 
better conceptions of social forms. 

Q. Have you any knowledge of the agricultural property belonging 
to the friars, or any order of them, from which they derive revenue ? 
I mean other than general rumor. 

A. The Augustinians, the Dominicans, and the RecoUetos have agri- 
cultural properties. Let us begin with the Dominicans. They have 
haciendas in the provinces of Cavite, Bulacan, Laguna, Manila, and in 
Cagayan. In the province of Cavite they have the following haci- 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 135 

endas: Naic and Santa Cruz de Malabon. The hacienda of Naic 
includes all the pueblo of Naic and a part of a neighboring pueblo. 
The second embraces the town of the same name — all of it — and part of 
the pueblo of San Francisco and of Salinas. In the province of 
Laguna they have the following haciendas: Binang, which includes 
Binang, Santa Rosa, and Cabuyao; the hacienda of Calamba, which 
includes the towns of Calamba and part of Los Banos Bay. In the 
province of Manila the}^ have the hacienda of San Juan del Monte, 
which includes the town of the same name, a part of that of San 
Felipe Nari. In Malabon the}^ have the hacienda of Nabotas, which 
includes a part of the town of the same name. In the province of 
Bulacan they have the Lomboy, which includes a part of the pueblos 
of Polo and Me3^canayan. 

In the province of Cagayan they have the hacienda of Tuguegarao. 

The Augustinians have in the province of Manila the hacienda of 
Mandolayo, San Pedro Macati, and Gaudalupe, which is a very profita- 
ble one because of the stone quarries it has. 

Nearly the whole of the province of Cavite is in the hands of the 
friars; that is the reason that the revolution was concentrated there. 
There is the hacienda of San Francisco de Malano, known as Teijero. 

In the province of Malabon they have Malinta, which includes the 
pueblos of Bocane and Cruinto. 

In Cagayan they also have a tobacco plantation. 

The Recolletos have in the province of Cavite the haciendas of 
Salitran, which includes part of the pueblo Bacoor and the pueblo of 
Imus, reaching almost to Monte Lupa; of San Juan, which includes 
part of the pueblo of Imus; and of Perez das Marinas. 

In Mindoro they have a fine plantation with a live-stock range; 
this was stocked with live stock, but it has disappeared since the revo- 
lution. 

I had almost forgotten to mention that the Augustinians always had 
in the Visa3"as and in Cebu .the hacienda known as Talisa}^ 

For fear that some of the haciendas may have escaped my memory 
I will present to 3^ou a table setting forth all the haciendas, together 
with the number of hectares, the number of inhabitants, and the yield 
of products. 

Q. I will be much obliged. I have a statement from the friars, and 
would like to compare it with the one you send. 

A. It seems that the Dominicans have made a simulated sale to 
Andrews. 

Q. Haven't they all done the same thing? 

A. As a matter of m}^ own knowledge I can only say as to the 
Dominicans. I have seen the abstract of title of the lands of the 
Dominicans and also the deed. 

Q. Is it not true that the friars have held these estates, most of 
them, for over one hundred years? 

A. Some, A^es. 

Q. Or at least over fifty 3^ears ? 

A. Yes; but although they have held this land under a possessory 
title, as a matter of fact in many cases, like that of the hacienda of 
Calamba, the}^ did not even have a possessory title, for they held it 
under the color of furnishing irrigation. The idea is that originall}^ 
all the lands in the Philippines belonged to the Crown of Spain, and 
the friars, under a pretext of furnishing irrigation for those lands, 



136 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

first commenced charging the possessors of the different Government 
lands a small quota for the use of this water that they furnished them. 
Then after a number of years they commenced applying the money 
which was paid for water to the purchase price of the land, which land 
did not belong to the friars, but belonged to the State, and the friars 
retained that money, and the persons who were in possession of the 
lands believed that they were paying for the lands. 

Q. That is the case at Calamba? 

A. And also at Imus. From the very incipiency of Spanish sov- 
ereignty in this archipelago under Philip the Second of Spain every 
pueblo was given a certain amount of land in common for the benefit 
of the vicinage, and now in nearly every instance all of that land is in 
the hands of the friars. The question is, how did it get there without 
any record of any sale on the part of any one of the pueblos? This 
does not mean to say that they have acquired all the haciendas in the 
same way. For instance, the hacienda of Teijero in Cavite was pur- 
chased from its former owner by the Augustinians. 

Q. What is the statute of limitations or of prescription here ? 

A. Ten years among those who are present and twenty years among 
absent persons. 

Q. Don't you think that that defense could be made successfully by 
the friars to most of the claims against the land. I am asking as a 
question of law? 

A. Strictly speaking, in the eye of the civil law, I am of the opinion 
that their lands can not be taken from them, for they can rely not only 
on prescription, but also upon a possessory title of very long standing. 

Q. I got that impression from hearing their evidence. I have a tabu- 
lar statement, which I have not examined caref ull}^, and do not expect to 
examine carefully until I take up all the papers in the matter for 
examination, in which they give the dates of the deeds conveying the 
lands to the different orders. 

A. Besides all of these facts, their title was sold by the royal decree 
issued in the time of Fabie, before mentioned, when they were allowed 
to alienate these lands, and that, naturally being one of the rights of a 
fee-simple proprietor, it recognized that title, and therefore I state 
that in the eyes of the civil law you can not attack their title. 

Q. What do you think their land is worth, assuming that they can 
go on it without being shot? 

A. It is better for the Filipinos to lose the land than to have them 
here. 

Q. What was it worth in 1896? 

A. Land has gone up a good deal now. Of all the religious corpo- 
rations, from three million up in 1896. That is Mexican. They 
claimed they had five million worth. You could proceed from this 
basis that every kinon, which is a land measure here, of irrigated rice 
land is worth 1,000 pesos; in other words, one Mexican dollar for 
every square meter of land; that is the legal standard, and besides they 
are the best lands in the archipelago. 

Q. Suppose we could get the land for 15,000,000 — that is, the whole 
of it — could we sell it for that by selling it off in small parcels to the 
persons who live on it? 

A. You could get a great deal more than that. By selling it in 
small parcels, giving the preference of buying it to the men who are 
already on and cultivating it, you can make much more than that out 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 137 

of it. Speaking of the landholders in the province of Cavite, with 
many of whom I have spoken, they are willing to pay to the Govern- 
ment of the United States what they are now paying in the wa}" of 
a tax to the friars upon the condition that the friars do not return to 
these lands and have nothing to do with them; but this is not so much 
through animosit}^ to the friars as to their contracts. I will explain 
the contract with the friars: An individual takes a parcel of land. The 
first thing the friar does is to object to any legal document being drawn 
concerning it, because they have already some printed contracts drawn 
up by themselves, and those are what the}^ demand the lessee shall 
sign. The fact is that the friars stipulate in their printed leases, in 
the teeth of ever}^ legal provision, that they ma}" take the lands away 
from the lessee whenever they please, even though he complies with 
all legal requisites. 

Q. The friars stated to me that they charged considerably less rent 
than any other landlord. How is that? 

A. I do not believe that is true, and I will recount a certain thing 
which will show that the friars not only charge for the land itself but 
for the air over it. I will produce one of the contracts which I have 
in my house. For instance, a certain amount is paid as rent for the 
ground, and if on that ground there is a mango tree, the lessee pays 
3 reals a year for that mango tree irrespective of what he pays for the 
ground. Therefore I sa}" that they not only pay for the ground but 
for the air. If there happens to be on this ground any bamboo sticks, 
they are also paid for. 

Q. Is the bamboo a profitable tree? 

A. My Santa Ana house is all built of bamboo. The present price 
is ^12.50 per hundred for small ones. The large ones are worth half 
a dollar a piece. If through any accident, fortuitous or otherwise, 
the mango tree should die, it is the lessee's duty to replace it, and the 
same is true as to the bamboo; but that is not the strangest thing, for 
the whole time that the mango tree fails to bear he has to keep on 
paying. Moreover, every year the lands under the lease are meas- 
ured, and there is a saying among the people of the province of Cavite 
that the land grows ever}^ year. What I sa}- I can corroborate by 
written instruments signed by the friars. Besides all this, the rental 
must be paid in products of the soil, and it must be paid when those 
products are cheapest in the market. To measure grains, for instance, 
they have in the provinces what is known as the cavan of the devil, 
which is of a larger size than the legal measure. A cavan holds a lit- 
tle more than 25 liters, dry measure, but the devil's cavan, which the 
friars used to collect their rent, has 26 liters. 

Besides all of this, in every quantit}^ of cavans paid in the way of 
rent there has to be added a number of these to make up for the losses 
in the storage houses through what rats or other rodents have eaten 
up. That is one of the conditions of the contract, what the rats eat 
up in the granaries. So much is this so that after they have measured 
out the proper number to meet the rent, they sa}": "There is some 
more for the rats." I am not quoting hearsay. I am speaking because 
I have seen it m3"self. This rice that the}" take is always washed 
before they measure it, but in the interest of brevity I will leave out 
details and proceed. If the friars state that the\" are the best land- 
lords here — and there are a number of landlords — wh}" is the animosity 
all directed against the friars and not the other landlords ? 



138 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. I would be glad to go on and ask a good many other questions 
that your answers suggest, but I must cut it down within reasonable 
limits. 

A. Yes, that is onl}^ a skeleton sketch, because a man is known 
through details. 

Q. I will ask one other question, which I asked the friars when they 
were here, and that is whether there was anything recognized by the 
friars such as our tenant right, sometimes called in Ireland ulster- 
tenant right, where a man takes a place from year to year and has no 
title other than that of holding from year to year; and ^'-et the proba- 
bility that he will be continued is recognized as something of value, which 
may be sold from one man to another, or which will go from father to 
son, and 1 could not learn from the friars whether any such thing 
existed or not. I got the impression that it did not. 

A. I will answer that by saying that such a system does exist, but 
always subject to the discretion of the friars. Still, the custom pre- 
vails of not only passing this tenant right from father to son, but also 
conveying it to another person, usuall}^ as a matter of bargain and 
sale, and the new purchaser generally pays more for improvements 
made by the lessee; but all of this, of course, is subject to the approval 
of the original landlord, the friar. 

Q. What political functions were actually exercised by the friars in 
the islands under Spanish rule? 

A. Aside from those political functions, which the laws recognize 
in them and which are many — and began with the vise which they put 
upon the credentials of moral character of every inhabitant of the 
pueblo and terminated in the friar being a member of the fishing 
board, which is rather an interminable chain — their extra legal func- 
tions embraced everything. Beginning with the municipal organiza- 
tion, he is supervisor of everything connected with the municipality. 
His opinion is asked with respect to the appointment of municipal 
officers. When information as to a man's moral standing is requested, 
if the credentials don't bear the vise by the friar the}^ are of no effect. 
He is inspector of the schools, a member of all the boards— the for- 
estry board, the municipal boards, and all other boards. In Manila, 
in the central government, the archbishop and bishops are members 
of the board of authorities. The four provincials are members of the 
board of the council of administration. The whole thing is said 
when I stated that they belonged to the board of fisheries — and Heaven 
knows what a friar has got to do with fish. To refer again to the extra 
legal duties self-imposed by the friars, I may put it in a word by sa3dng 
that the governor-general who does not act in conformity with the 
friars is a dead man, as evidenced by the case of General Lalon 
Despujol, of very recent date; and when I say governor-general, I 
include all the authorities beneath him. 

Q. What were the relations between the heads of the Spanish Gov- 
ernment here and the heads of the church ? 

A. When we consider the intimate linking of the church and the 
state which prevailed under the Spanish regime, it is unnecessary for 
me to state that, after all, the friar was the first authority in the 
Philippines. 

Q. What fees were actually collected by the parish priests for mar- 
riages and births? 

A. There really existed a schedule of fees, which was promulgated 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 139 

by an archbishop named Don Balio Sancho de Santo Justa y Rufina. 
That schedule is still in force, and is posted in the cathedral now, but 
that schedule of fees was never carried out, and every friar charged 
just what he thought best. I don't make this statement from hearsay, 
but from personal knowledge, because I was a member of a society 
whose purpose it was to bring about marriages between those who 
were living together but were unmarried, and I have personally wit- 
nessed many weddings where the fees were always far beyond the 
legal schedule, and in all the long time that I have been a member of 
this society I have never yet found a single case where the friar has 
condoned or exempted the party from payment of fees, even when he 
knew that most of the marriages were conducted under the auspices 
of the society and that the fees were paid by the society. 

Q. Do you think that the fees imposed had an}^ effect on preventing 
marriages ? 

A. Few were the influences that it had considering the custom 
among the people here, because they would get the money for these 
fees, even if they had to steal it. If any evil results were noticeable 
from these fees, the}^ were limited almost exclusively to Manila, but 
in the provinces, even if they had to steal it, they would get the money. 

Q. Now, as to the morality of the friars, have you had much oppor- 
tunity to observe as to this ? 

A. Considerable, from my earliest j^outh. With respect to their 
morality in general, it was such a common thing to see children of 
friars that no one ever paid any attention to it or thought of it, and so 
depraved had the people become in this regard that the women who 
were the mistresses of friars really felt great pride in it and had no 
compunction in speaking of it. So general had this thing become that 
it may be said that even now the rule is for a friar to have a mistress 
and children, and he who is not is the rare exception, and if it is 
desired that I give names, I could cite right now 100 children of friars. 

Q. In Manila or in the provinces? 

A. In Manila and in the provinces. Everywhere. Manj^ of my 
sweethearts have been daughters of friars. 

Q. Are the friars living in the islands still who have had those 
children ? 

Q. Yes; and 1 can give their names if necessary, and I can give the 
names of the children, too. Beginning with myself, m3Miiother is the 
daughter of a Franciscan friar. I do not dishonor mj^self by sa^dng 
this, because my famih^ begins with myself. 

Q. I will be much obliged for a list. 

A. I can give it to you right now: In Pandacan, Isidro Mendoza, 
son of the Bishop Pedro Payo, when he was the parish curate of the 
Pueblo of Samar; in Imus, the wife of Cayetano Tot azio, daughter of 
a Recolecto friar of Mindoro; in Zambales, Louise Lasaca, now in 
Zimbales, and several sisters and brothers were children of Friar Benito 
Tutor, a Recolecto friar in Bulacan; in Quingua, I can not remember 
the last name, the first name is Manuela, a godchild of m}^ mother, is 
a daughter of an Augustinian friar named Alvaro; in Cavite, a certain 
Patrocinio Berjes is a daughter of Friar Rivas, a Dominican friar; 
Colonel Aguillar, who is on the Spanish board of liquidation, is the 
son of Father Ferrer, an Augustinian monk. 

Q. How do you know these things? 

A. In some cases through family relations, others because they were 



140 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

godchildren of 1113^ father, and others I became possessed of the facts 
through being attorney. I myself have acted as godfather for three 
children of friars. I am now managing an estate of $40,000 that came 
from a friar for his three children. A family lives with me who are 
all children of friars. 

Q. Dr. Gonzales was the son of a friar, was he not? 

A. Yes; I didn't care to mention him. Referring to this matter, 
I must recognize that we ought to be thankful to the friars, because 
they have bettered our race. 

Q. That was not the subject, was it, of great condemnation by the 
people ? 

A. By no means. 

Q. It was a kind of departure from the celibacy of the clergy, wasn't 
that it? 

A. It was merely an infraction of the canonical law. 

Q. It was not a general licentiousness on the part of the friars ? 

A. It was a general licentiousness, because, as I have said, the 
exception as to the rule among the friars was not to have a mistress 
and be the father of children by her. The friar who was not mixed 
up with a woman in some wa}^ or other was like a snowbird in summer, 
but it must be confessed that for the past ten years they have 
improved somewhat in this regard. 

Q. How do they compare with the native clergy in this matter? 

A. To tell the truth, they almost run together, although it must be 
said also that the latter, the native priests, are not so bare faced about 
it. They have a certain fear. But in this regard, they were merely 
following the general rule and the general example. 

Q. That would seem to indicate that the immorality of the friars is 
not the chief ground of the hostility of the people against them, 
would it not? 

A. That is not, by any means, because the moral sense of the whole 
people here had been absolutely perverted. So frequent were these 
infractions of the moral laws on the part of the friars that really no 
one ever cared or took any notice of them; and this acquiescence on 
the part of the people was imposed upon them, for woe be unto him 
who should ever murmur anything against the friars, and even the 
young Filipino women had their senses perverted, because when 
attending school they had often and often seen the friars come in to 
speak to their openly avowed daughters, who often were their own 
playmates. 

Q. Is it not a fact that the hostility against the friars does exist? 

A. Certainly. 

Q. Is it confined to the educated classes? 

A. It extends to even the lowest classes, but the case with the lower 
classes is that they are a great deal like a private soldier. They can 
not avow it, for they fear that they will be treated very harshly. 

Q. Do not the friars still retain a good deal of influence among the 
women of the lower class and of the higher, too ? 

A. Only to a slight degree. This is due to the fact that they see in 
the friar a minister of their own religion, and that naturally calls for 
certain respect. 

Q. I suppose the women here, as the women everywhere, are more 
religious than the men ? 

A. Of course; and besides, they are not possessed of a great many 
details of an indecent character, of which the men are possessed. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 141 

Q. Now, it seems to me from the examination that I have been able 
to make, from the friars and others, that the chief ground of hostility 
against the friars is because the}^ represent the Kingdom of Spain to 
most of the people in these islands, in all the oppressive measures that 
that Kingdom adopted in the government of the people here. 

A. Yes. They were the expression of the most exaggerated des- 
potism, not of the Government of Spain, but of their own despotism, 
which they exercised, using the name of the Kingdom of Spain, because 
their system was to deceive both Spain and the people. That was the line 
the}^ had laid down, and, unfortunately, they are still following it, and 
thej^ used it during the time of the Spanish regime. They would say 
to the people, "If it were not for me the Government would annihilate 
you," and then they would say to the Government, ''If it were not for 
me the people would overthrow you." And even at the present time 
there is not the slightest doubt that they have said to the American 
authorities that all of the Filipino people were a lot of anarchists and 
insurgents who were conspiring to overthrow constituted authorit}^, 
while to the people of the Philippines they sslj the American Govern- 
ment will place a chain around the waist of each of them; I do not 
make this assertion as an emanation from myself. I have seen it in 
writing. In the confessional they say to them, "How can you be in 
favor of the Americans when they are absolutely the enemies of our 
religion?" And the}^ say that constantly to the secular clergy, adding 
that woe belides the poor Filipinos who deliver themselves over uncon- 
ditionally to the American Government, and I have heard this from 
the very lips of Monsieur Chapelle. 

Q. Is there a difference in the feeling against the different orders? 

A. Oh, yes. For example, this feeling is general as against the 
Augustinians, the Dominicans, the RecoUetos, and the Franciscans. 
Then, on the other hand, there are the Jesuits, which, as my friend 
says, are the worst, but there is no animosit}^; the Capuchins, against 
whom there is no animosity; the Benedictines, against whom there is 
no animosity; and the Paulist fathers also, and all of these are Span- 
iards, and still there is no animosity against them; but the animosit}^ 
is against the first named. 

Q. These others were not parish priests ? 

A. The latter named never occupied the parish priests, and conse- 
quently had no preponderance in the government. 

Q. And that really explains the difference? 

A. Yes, sir. And so far as the Jesuits are concerned they are even 
recognized as benefactors of the country, and they are also recognized 
as those who have given the greatest impulse to education, and that is 
one of the reasons why these four corporations first named are at war 
with the other corporations, and principally with the Jesuits. 

Q. What do you know of deportation due to the complaints of the 
friars ? 

A. They have had a great deal of intervention in the deportation, 
and they were the moving element always in deportations when they 
did not like anybody. 

Q. They occasionally intervened to prevent deportations ? 

A. I have known of cases; for instance, the case of the bishop of 
Cebu and the Camarines. The former bishop interceded in behalf of 
Torres and Llorente, who was one of the justices of the supreme 
court. 

Q. Are the native priests well educated ? 



142 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.. 

A. There must be two or more stages considered in answering that 
question, because of different conditions that have prevailed at differ- 
ent times. All the native clergy who have donned the ecclesiastical 
garb since 18Y2, the time of the revolution of Cavite, leave much to be 
desired. In the first place, because all of those who chose the cloth 
for their livelihood were the worst students in the university. In the 
second place, because the instruction in the theological seminaries was 
very poor indeed. There was a moving cause in all this; for instance, 
the instruction in the theological seminaries was made purposely defi- 
cient because the archbishops desired to show the authorities in Rome 
that none of the natives were ever capable of assuming charge of the 
curacies in the provinces, and therefore rendering it necessary for the 
friars alone to be named. The reason why only the poorer students 
of the university became priests was because those who were quicker 
mentally and were brighter every way would not go into the priest- 
hood because they knew of the unhappy conditions that would prevail 
afterwards. 

Q. What do you think would be the result of the friars attempting 
to go back to their parishes ? 

A. I will answer that by stating what a countryman told me: He 
says that all the friars have to do is to go back to their parishes and 
sleep one night, and the chances are that they would never awaken. 
I do not mean to say by this that every pueblo in all the provinces 
would cut the throats of the returning parish priests, but, even sup- 
posing there were but three pueblos in each province that were antago- 
nistic to the return of the parish priests, they would begin the under- 
taking of inciting all the others until they had gotten them in the 
condition where they would do the same. 

Q. What do you think of the establishment of a public-school system 
allowing half an hour before or half an hour after school for religious 
instruction ? Would that satisfy the Catholics of the island ? 

A. So long as the instruction was only in the Catholic religion, of 
course. 

Q. The instruction would not be by the public-school teacher. The 
opportunity would be given to everyone; but as there would be none 
there but priests, I suppose the Catholics would be the only ones to go. 
The children would only go and receive the instruction that their parents 
desired. 

A. I have always entertained the idea that the separation of church 
and state in this island is one of the most difficult undertakings. Pos- 
sibly it is the most arduous problem that there is here, and I believe 
that the establishment of free religious instruction would produce a 
bad effect on the people. 

Q. You do not quite understand the system I mean. Under the 
Constitution of the United States it is not possible for us to spend any 
public money for any religious instruction, but the Catholic clergy 
seem to feel that instruction ought to be accompanied by religious 
instruction. Now, then, if we give to the Catholic priest the oppor- 
tunity to go and meet the pupils, either before or after the regular 
curriculum, for half an hour or an hour as he sees fit to give them 
instruction, will that act meet the desires of the people for the union 
of education and religion ? 

A. It would be satisfactory to the people, provided it were only the 
Catholic priests who went there. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 148 

Q. It would practicalh^ amount to that, for no child would be com- 
pelled to listen to an}^ religious instruction which their parents did not 
desire them to listen to. It is wholly within the control of the parents. 

A. This question would be very easy of solution and would be under- 
stood perfectly by an educated people, but the people we have here 
are not reasoning enough to grasp all of that, and would think that 
what is a perfectly free function w^as something that was compulsory; 
and there is another thing that would arise, and that is that in the 
Catholic clergy themselves there would be found those who would 
object to that because it is free, and an}^ member of an}^ religion could 
go there and the}" would establish their own schools. The people are 
surprised that they don't teach the catechism in the public schools, for 
it has been the custom of the children to learn to read out of the cate- 
chism, and that is what renders this a ver}" difficult problem, and 
perhaps the permitting of free religious instruction in the schools may 
redound to the injury of those schools, and this because the people 
confound what is perfectly free and what is obligatory. 

Q. There are but two courses open — one to give that opportunity to 
have religious instruction, and the other to have schools without it at 
all? 

A. I believe it is preferable to suppress it entirel}^ and to give the 
religious instruction in churches. 

Q. I am glad to get your opinion, for it is a very difficult question. 

A. It is the most arduous question in these interrogatories, and 
presents the gravest problem, for we are treating with a fanatical 
Catholic people, and then, besides, we are confronted by a grossl}^ 
ignorant people. 

Q. Tending some of them to fetichism? 

A. Yes. The fact is that the people at large have not grasped the 
true inspiration of Catholicism — it is tinsel dazzling before their e3"es. 
Certain things come up and immediateh^ the people turn over to 
fetichism and idolatr}^ There is a sect called the Color um — in the 
provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Mindoro, and Ta^^abas — which has more 
than 100,000 proselytes, which is an adulteration of the third order of 
St. Francis admixed with ancient idolatries, and that is the real cause 
of the tremendous fanaticism that exists in those four provinces. It 
is not confined to these four — it is pretty genera) . 

Q. Does it not need the influence of a cultivated clergy ? 

A. That is true if you were treating of a people who could under- 
stand you. What you need here is not great knowledge, but to attract 
them by the affection. You can not thrust aside or obliterate all these 
notions by any cold reason. 

Q. No ; but a cultivated, high-toned clergy that was well educated 
could not but exercise a good influence if they used common sense in 
a community like that. 

A. That is very true, but if the people don't take kindly to that 
clerg}^ the problem is still unsolved. 

Q. What do ^^ou think about introducing American clergy here ? 

A. It depends entirely upon how they conduct themselves. 

Q. Now as to the eff'ect of the government either buying or exap- 
propriating the agricultural propert}^ of the friars and selling it out 
in small parcels and using the proceeds for a school fund — do you think 
that a practicable idea? 

A. That is practicable, and the only solution to the problem, and 



144 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

that would also solve the agrarian and social aspect of the revolution. 

Q. Is not that, so far as it relates to the friars, confined to the 
provinces of Cavite, Batangas, Manila, and Bulacan ? 1 mean largel}^ ? 

A. Yes; where the friars have haciendas, but still it has spread 
somewhat to other provinces where they hold no land, but it is of 
little importance. 



October 18, 1900. 
INTERVIEW WITH JOSE EODERIGTJES INFANTE. 

Q. How long have you lived in the Philippines ? 

A. I have resided here all my life — thirty -six years — with the excep- 
tion of twenty months, when I made a tour of the world — ^ America, 
France, Switzerland, etc. I made this tour during the 3"ears 1893 and 
1891. 

Q. You were educated at the University of Santo Thomas ? 

A. Yes; and I have my legal degree from there also. 

Q. Have you practiced law? 

A. As I had inherited a little money from my father and sonae 
plantations, 1 thought that the legal profession would not add much 
to my income, and so I have not practiced law. 

Q. You did, however, take a full course in law? 

A. Yes; and 1 am a licentiate of laws. 

Q. And you have, since reaching manhood, with the exception of 
the twenty months spent in travel, managed haciendas in the province 
of Pampanga ? 

A. I commenced to manage the estate of my father in the year 1888. 

Q. And you have been quite familiar with everj^thing that went on 
in Pampanga, and generally in Luzon ? 

A. I am well acquainted with the conditions prevailing in the prov- 
ince of Pampanga and also in the Visayas. During the Spanish regime 
persons who had a high social position and were well educated were 
not looked upon with any great favor by the Spaniards. If they 
traveled they were charged with being filibusters or with desiring to 
disrupt the public order and Spanish control, and consequent!}^ I have 
spent most of my time in my own province and between that and 
Manila. 

Q. Have you been in the Visayas; and, if so, did you spend some 
time there? 

A. I onl}^ know of the Visayas b}^ hearsay. 

Q. Have you had considerable opportunity to observe the relations 
between the friars and the people of their parishes in a religious, 
social, and political way ? 

A. In my own province. 

Q. This was before the year 1896 ? 

A. Yes, sir. I have had ver}^ many opportunities to observe the 
relations existing between the parish friars and their flocks, not only 
in the province of Pampanga, but also in Bulacan, where I have a large 
number of friends whom I have often visited. 

Q. Have you known a good many friars personally ? 

A. 1 have not known very many because I have no very great lean- 
ing toward them, but I have known a number. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 145 

Q. Do you know what class of society they were drawn from in 
Spain ? 

A. I do not know a large number, but I have heard from a very 
good source that a very large majority of them are Asturians from the 
mountains of Spain. 

Q. Do the different orders differ at all in this respect? 

A. I really had no chance to judge, except of the Jesuits, because 
they were my teachers, and of the Augustinians, of which order the 
friars in my province are, and one Recolleto friar in Montalban, prov- 
ince of Manila, who verv nearly got us all into jail up there in the 
year 1886. 

Q. Do you know anj^thing about the property owned by the friars 
in the Philippines? 

A. I can onl}^ state that from trustworthy sources I have heard that 
they own a great deal of landed property, and I have m^^self visited 
three or four of their estates, at Imus, Malinta, and Lolomboy. On 
these estates I have been even in the manor houses, but I do not know 
the extent of their holdings. 

Q. They have none in Pampanga? 

A. They have not even one foot of land in Pampanga. 

Q. What in Pampanga did the friars do in the wa}^ of political con- 
trol of the town ? 

A. In the first place they had direct intervention in what might be 
called the private life of every individual. If they desired that he 
live at ease, he could live uninterrupted in the pursuit of his occupa- 
tions; if they did not, they could make his life a torment. The friars 
directed most of their attention, if not all of it, to those persons in 
each pueblo who were of the upper class hy reason of their property 
or education — such as did not need the friars to aid them in any of 
their plans. The friars usually watched these people very closely so 
as to discover any way at all in which to either get land or money 
from them by making accusations against them. The methods pursued 
by the friars in the pueblos to show their prowess to the gobernador- 
cillos was something after this fashion : When a new gobernadorcillo 
was named, the friars would go to the provincial governor and say 
that he ought to impose a fine on the gobernadorcillo because he did 
not keep the roads within his jurisdiction in a proper condition. Act- 
ing upon this, the provincial governor would impose the fine, and the 
gobernadorcillo would apply to the parish friar to intercede for him 
with the governor. This the friar would do, asking the provincial 
governor to remit the fine, which he would do. In this way the friar 
would ingratiate himself with the gobernadorcillo, and also show to 
him what a power he had over all the political authorities. If the 
friar happened to be at outs with the provincial governor, he would 
utilize his influence over the gobernadorcillo to the end that the 
latter would show him all the orders that he received from the pro- 
vincial governor before he executed the same, and if any of these 
orders met his views he would instruct the gobernadorcillo to obe}" 
them; if not, he would tell him to pay no attention to them. If 
matters came to a crisis, the friar would advise the gobernadorcillo to 
either take to the woods or to come to Manila and become a guest of 
the monastery of his order there, and then he would prepare charges 
against the provincial governor and have it signed by all the principal 
people in the pueblo. Another method of the friars related to the 

S. Doc. 190 10 



146 CHURCH LANDS EN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

collection of their fees or stipends. They formed all the lists of the 
population of their different districts from the parish baptismal register 
and purposely avoided any reference to the death register, conse- 
quentl}^' whoever was baptised in that place could live forever, and 
was returned always as being alive and a resident of that place, even 
though he had died or moved, and he compelled the cabezas barangay, 
who were the tax collectors, to turn over to them their stipend based 
upon these public returns, and if they failed to turn the stipends over 
on the ground that no such population existed, thej were put in jail 
through the friars and bereft of their position. The basis for the pay- 
ment of the stipend to the curates in former times was the population, 
and every year a list of the population of the pueblo was made up 
ostensibly by the gobernadoi'cillo, but the only statistics there were 
in these pueblos were the parish registers kept by the friars, and the 
friars compelled the gobernadorcillos, therefore, to come to them and 
let them vise the lists that were sent in to the provincial governor and 
naturally increased them so as to increase salary. 

Q. So to swell the taxes, they robbed the cradle and the grave? 

A. They augmented the cradle, but diminished the grave. The friars 
had a S3^stem of blackmail, by which the}^ held the rod over all the 
citizens of a pueblo, about whose habits and closet skeletons they 
learned through making little girls of from 5 to 6 and 7 years of age^ 
who could barely speak and who were naturally and must have been 
sinless, come to the confessional and relate to them everything that 
they knew of the private life in their own homes and in places that 
they might visit. 

Q. Did they take an active part in the improvements or whatever 
was done in the town ? 

A. It may be said that they had full direction and charge of all the 
public works in their different jurisdictions, except such as were of a 
nature demanding the supervision of a corps of engineers under the 
board of public works at Manila, who were always Spaniards naturally, 
to direct the public works in the pueblos, they always had to live in 
the convent with the friars so as to get into their good graces, for if 
they did not the friars would report them as being derelict in their 
duty or with misappropriating funds. 

Q. What can you say about the fees collected by the priests for 
marriages, etc. ? 

A. I can not state positively what the fees charged are, but I can 
say that they are very heavy and always increasing, because I have to 
pav the birth, marriage, and burial fees of all of my tenants and serv- 
ants, and they are charged on an ever-increasing scale. The slightest 
improvement made to a church or convent is used as a pretext for 
enormously increasing these fees. The fees are ver}^ burdensome to 
the landed proprietor, for the Filipino, unfortunately, when he gets an 
idea acts on it without caring for the consequences, and if he feels like 
getting married, even though he is very poor, he will get married and 
have children, for all of which his landlord has to pa}^ 

Q. What do you know about the morality or immorality of the 
friars ? 

A. Too much. I have nothing to add to what Senor Calderon says^ 
save to cite some more names. 

Q. Have you known a good many young women and young men 
who were the reputed daughters and sons of friars ? 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 147 

A. I have known a great many and now have living on my own 
estate six children of a friar. 

Q. Were all the friars licentious ? 

A. I believe that they all are. 

Q. Do you think that was the ground of hostility against the friars ? 

A. No, sir; Csesarism was. Everything was dependent upon them, 
and I may say that even the process of eating was under their super- 
vision. Naturally, their immorality had a slight influence in the case, 
but it became so common that it passed unnoticed. 

Q. Does the hostility exist against all the orders? 

A. Only against the four. The Augustinians in my province, the 
Recolletos, the Dominicans — it existed against the Dominicans in 
Pangasinan for I have heard people living there speak of it when I 
visited them — and the Franciscans. 

Q. Why did it exist against the four and not against the Jesuits, 
Paulist Fathers, and Benedictines? 

A. Because the latter not having any parishes, the people did not 
know whether they were the same or not; although we know historic- 
ally that the Jesuits are the worst, but we have never had any palpa- 
ble evidence. 

Q. You have never heard charges of immorality against the Jesuits ? 

A. No. 

Q. Was this feeling in Pampanga against the friars confined to the 
leading men in each town, to four or five, or did it permeate the lower 
classes ? 

A. In former times only the upper class would express their opinions 
with respect to the friars, but since the friars have left their curacies, 
the pent-up feeling of all classes of society is expressed, and the mur- 
ders of priests and the attacks upon priests which have recently occur- 
red are due entirely to the lower classes of society and not even 
connived at or instigated by the upper classes. 

Q. Charges have been made against the friars that they caused 
deportations of Filipinos. Do you know of such instances? 

A. Yes, sir. In my own province it was seen that the large majority 
of the friars, and more especially the now deceased friar Antonio 
Bra,bo, had great influence in the deportation of many influential citi- 
zens, as also in the incarceration of several of them in order to subse- 
quently have them released so as to show their power with the 
authorities. I myself at the instigation of friars have been the victim 
of their machinations for they wanted me sent to Manila to be crimi- 
nally prosecuted, but thanks to the governor, and to my father-in- 
law, who was a European, I escaped. 

Q- It is charged, also, that they were guilty of physical cruelty to 
their own members and others. What do you know about it? 

A. They were cruel, not only in their treatment of their servants by 
beating them, but they also took great delight in being eyewitnesses 
to tortures and beatings of men in prisons and jails by the civil author- 
ities. They were always, when witnessing these acts, accompanied by 
some of the higher Spanish civil authorities, and these acts were usually 
carried out at the instigation of the friars. One of the proofs that my 
own province behaved better than all the others — because it was under 
the governorship of Seiior Canovas, who was a just man — is that it was 
the last to rise up in arms against Spain. 

Q. What have you to say of the morality of the native priests as 
compared with that of the friars ? 



148 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPHSTE ISLANDS. 

A. They are about on an even footing. All these priests now offici- 
ating have the same vices, and when 3^ou take into account that they 
were purposel}^ kept from following their natural bent to obtain an 
education by the friars, in order to show the Pope that there was a 
natural want of capacit}" in the Filipino, it can be seen why they became 
easy tools of the Spanish priests and great mimics of them in their 
loose life. This design to keep native priests from gaining a good 
education began in 1872. 

Q. Did all of the friars change for the worse about that time? 

A. 1 am informed that the}" were bad before that time. 

Q. What do 3^ou think would be the result should the friars attempt 
lo return to their parishes? 

A. I believe that the Carbonari methods would be applied to them. 

Q. And now about this school question, do 3^ou agree with Senor 
€alderon? 

A. Yes, sir. As the people are eminently catholic in feeling, they 
would be pleased to have religious instruction, provided it were not 
compulsory, or they thought it were not compulsory. 

Q. You think possibly the arrangement by which the instruction 
should be permitted by the priest or ministers of any religion, for 
half an hour before or half an hour after school, might, if the people 
understood it, work? 

A. My impression is that when you speak of ministers of any 
religion, the people would not look well upon instruction being given 
in public schools. 

Q. 1 suppose you understand that all that is done and all that is pro- 
posed to be done in this matter is to say that the minister of any 
religion can come to teach the children who desire to be taught b}^ that 
particular minister, and as there are likely to be few ministers in this 
island except the Catholic, it would probably work out that no one 
would go but the Catholics. 

A. Might it not be that owing to the dearth of churches and having 
a ready-made congregation, the ministers of the different churches 
would fight to see who would get there first ? 

Q. It would depend upon the wishes of the parents; in other words, 
if they were all Catholics that is the only instruction that would be 
gfiven there. 

A. I believe it would. 

Q. Will it not much change the relation of the priest to the people 
from what it was under Spanish times, when it comes to be understood 
that the churches must be supported by voluntar}^ contribution and 
that the Government offers no more protection to the priest than to 
any other member of the community, and that the priest occupies no 
political function whatever? 

A. I believe it would solve the whole problem. 

Q. I understood you to stay that the orders own nothing in Pampanga ? 

A. None. 

Q. The agrarian question mentioned by Mr. Calderon is really a 
local question, affecting Cavite, Batangas, Bulacan, and Lagun^i? 

A. Yes, sir; and in the province of Manila. 

Q. It really plays very little part in Pampanga? 

A. It may be said that Pampanga has always been happy, and even 
in the matter of curates we have had fairly good men as a rule. 

Q. From your general knowledge, do you think the purchase of the 
and would help out the agrarian question ? 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 149 

A. Yes; that would solve the problem; but the United States ought 
not to pay more for the lands than the price that private individuals 
here have had to pay, and the friars got them at a lower figure, ^1 for 
a square meter of first-class rice lands with irrigation. 

Q. I suppose people in the islands — honest men — could be had to 
appraise these lands at what they are really worth '^ 

A. The}^ ought to be appraised at what they were worth formerly 
and not what they are worth to-day. 

Q. Are they worth more to-day? 

A. A great deal more. Under the right of eminent domain, they 
ought to be compelled to sell their lands at a fair price above what 
they paid for them, but not what they are worth now. 

Q. They have sold their lands, in a way, haven't they? 

A. I can not state of my own knowledge, but it is a very current 
public rumor that some of them have made a fictitious sale so as to 
get them in the name of another. 

Expressions of thanks. 



October 19, 1900. 

INTEEVIEW WITH SEtOR ITOZARIO CONSTANTINO, OF BIGAN, 
PROVINCE OF BULACAN, NOW RESIDING IN MANILA. 

Q. How long have you lived in the Philippines ? 

A. I was born here, and 1 am now 58, never having left the islands. 

Q. Where were you born? 

A. In Bigan, but when I became a lawyer I came down to live in 
Manila. 

Q. Have you been in the habit of going back to Bulacan ? 

A. Constantly. All my interests and lands are there. 

Q. How much personal opportunity had j^ou before 1896 to know 
the relations, and the social, religious, and political attitude of the friars 
toward the people and the people toward the friars ? 

A. I have had many opportunities. What the friars acting as parish 
priests have done for many years prior to 1896 is to commit flagrant 
abuses both in their private and public life. 

Q, Have you known a good many friars personally? 

A. I have known a great many. 

Q. Do you know what class of society the}^ were generally drawn 
from in Spain ? 

A. I do not know. Some of them show they have received a fair 
education, but many others show that the}" only came over here under 
the cloak of religion to gain a living. 

Q. Do you know of any agricultural, business, or residence prop- 
erty owned by any order of the friars from which the}" derive 
revenue ? 

A. I know that they own city property and also suburban property. 
They have a multitude of country estates. In Bulacan they have at 
least three or four, perhaps five, haciendas. 

Q. Can you tell the different orders owning estates in Bulacan ? 

A. In the province of Bulacan is the hacienda of Pandi, Lolomboy, 
belonging to the Dominicans; Malinta, Danepol, and Trece, to the 
Augustinians. Those are the shod Augustinians, as distinguished 



150 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

from those who go barefooted. The name of the Recolletos is "unshod 
Augustinians." 

Q. What political functions did the friars discharge before 1896 in 
the villages in which they were parish priests '( 

A. The political functions that the}^ exercised were those of ruling 
the entire country, every authority and everybody having to be sub- 
servient to their caprice. 

Q. Do you know what were the relations between the heads of the 
Spanish Government and the heads of the church here? 

A. Generalh^ speaking the governor-general had to keep on the 
good side of the head of the church here, for he knew full well that if 
he should do anything which was displeasing to the archbishop that 
he would last a very short time in the Philippines. 

Q. What were the fees actually collected for the marriages and 
births and burials? Were they oppressive or otherwise? 

A. That depended entireh^ upon the caprice of the parish friar and 
the ability to pay of the person needing his services. Many times the 
latter would have to pay four times the official schedule. 

Q. What was the morality of the friars ? 

A. There was no morality whatever, and the story of the immorality 
would take too long to recount. Great immorality and corruption. 
(I desire to say here that, speaking thus frankly about the habits of 
the priests, the witnesses would fear that they might be persecuted 
by the priest if it should ever get out what they were saying here.) 

Judge Taft. I don't expect to publish it. I expect to use it to make 
a report to the commission. 

Q. Have you known of the children of friars being about in Bulacan ? 

A. Yes, sir. About the year 1810 and the year 50 ever}^ friar curate 
in the province of Bulacan had his concubine. Dr. Joaquin Gonzales 
was the son of a curate of Baliuag, and he has three sisters here and 
another brother, all children of the same friar. We do not look upon 
that as a discredit to a man. 

The multitude of friars who came here from 1876 to 1896 and 1898 
were all of the same kind, and to name the number of children that 
they have would take up an immense lot of space. There was a case, 
for instance, of the governor of the province of Bulacan (and I know 
whereof 1 speak, for 1 have practiced law there for many years) who 
was named Canova, and he was a man who was very strict in the per- 
formance of his official duty — an honest and an upright man. He 
endeavored to put a stop to the deportations of the friars, and they 
combined and called upon him in a body and asked him in a threaten- 
ing manner if he desired to remain as governor of that province. He 
told them to go to hell; and they said. Now, if you don't want to stay 
here you better ask to be transferred to another province, because if 
you don't leave voluntarily you will not remain here three months 
longer. A very short time after that he had to leave. 

Q. Did not the people become so accustomed to the relations which 
the friars had with the women that it realty paid very little part in 
their hostility to the friars, assuming that the hostility did exist? 

A. That contributed somewhat to the hostility of the people, and 
they carried things in this regard with a ver}" high hand, for if the}^ 
should desire the wife or daughter of a man, and the husband and 
father opposed such advances, they would endeavor to have the man 
deported by bringing up false charges of being a filibuster or a Mason, 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. ' 151 

and after succeeding in getting rid of the husband, the}^ would, by foul 
or fair means, accomplish their purposes, and I will cite a case that 
actually happened to us. It was the case of a first cousin of mine, 
Dona Soponce, who married a girl from Baliuag and went to live in 
Agonoy, and there the local friar curate who was pursuing his wife 
got him the position as registrar of the church in order to have him 
occupied in order that he might continue his advances with the wife. 
He was fortunate in this undertaking and succeeded in getting the 
wife away from the husband and afterwards had the husband deported 
to Puerto Princesa, near Jolo, where he was shot as an insurgent, and 
the friar continued to live with the widow and she bore him children. 
The friar's name is Jose Martin, an Augustinian friar. 

Q. Is he still in the islands? 

A. He was an old man, and he has gone over to Spain. This was in 
the year 1891, 1892, or perhaps 1893. 

Q. I want to ask you whether the hostilit}^ against the friars is con- 
fined to the educated and the better element among the people? 

A. It permeates all classes of society, and principall}^ the lower, for 
they can do nothing. The upper class, by reason of their education, 
can stand them off better than the lower classes, and this is the reason 
that the friars don't want the public to become educated. 

Q. Do the friars still retain any influence over the women of the 
lower orders ? 

A. Over some very fanatical women, yes. 

Q. But you think that feeling is not general among them ? 

A. The hatred is general. The commission may find the proof of 
this by sending a trustworthy man to every pueblo in the archipelago 
to ask of the inhabitants if they want a friar curate, and all of them 
will answer no. 

Q. Does the feeling exist against all the orders ? 

A. Yes, against all the orders; but of course principally against all 
the orders who have acted as curates. Of course, it is true there can 
be no great hatred of those who have remained in their cloisters and 
have not had an opportunity to commit the acts. 

Q. I have understood feeling against the Jesuits, Paulists, and 
Benedictines did not exist generally ? 

A. Up to this time I know nothing of them, because thej^ have not 
occupied any of the curacies, but I have understood that where the 
Jesuits have occupied there have been some of them prone to commit 
abuses. 

Q. Do 3"ou know of other cases of deportations by the friars? 

A. Many, a very great many deportations, but I can not trace abso- 
lutely to the friars all these deportations, for they are very skillful in 
throwing the stones and hiding the hand; but there has been a large 
number of deportations that were due to no other known cause but the 
friars, for no other animosity, except on the part of the friars, existed 
against the parties deported. 

Q. What would 3^ou say as to the statement that the people desired 
the return of the friars, but that the only real opposition to it was 
among the native clergy ? 

A. Nothing of the kind. The clerg}^ contributed in no way what- 
ever to the feeling against the friars. The people are unalterably 
opposed to the return of these men to their parishes. The clergy are 
rather on the fence waiting to see what the (jrovernment is going to 



152 CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

do, but as a fact they have no part whatever in the animosity against 
the friars. 

Q. What do you think would be the result were the church to send 
here some American priests, secular priests, who understood the con- 
duct of the church under the system of separation of church and state 
and who understood what it is to live in a free country ? 

A. The only thing that might be said to that is that no matter where 
the honest and upright priests come from, whether America or the 
Philippines or anywhere else, so long as he did not commit abuses such 
as the friars committed, and so long as he was not a member of a 
monastic order, the people would continue to be Catholics and would 
not inquire into the nationality of their priests. 

Q. What about the morality of the native priests as compared with 
the friars ? 

A. There is no comparison at all. Even when the native priest, 
following in the footsteps of his teacher, commits abuses and immorali- 
ties, he does it less openly or shamelessly than the friar. One of the 
great reasons for the objections to the friar is that the spirit of union 
and solidarity which holds their religious communities together pre- 
vents punishment from being visited upon the unworthy. If 1 were 
to go to the provincial of an order and lodge charges of heinous 
offenses against the curate of my pueblo he would say, ''I will fix 
that," and eternity would pass before it was fixed; and in some cases 
where outrageous conduct has been charged against the curate, and 
public opinion was unanimous in crying for condign punishment 
against the culprit, the provincial has arranged the matter by taking 
the culprit away from that town and sending him to a better one. 
This is public and notorious. In this very case that I spoke of, of 
Friar Jose Martin with my first cousin, the latter went to Archbishop 
Nozaleda with letters which had passed between the friar and his wife. 
The letters were written in cipher understood only by the woman and 
the friar, and with locks of his hair and his photograph, which had 
been sent to his wife. My cousin wanted him to discipline this man 
and to prevent him from encroaching upon his household. Arch- 
bishop Nozaleda said that the case was within the jurisdiction of the 
vicar of the province, residing at Baliuac, and that was the end of the 
case. Nothing was ever done by the archbishop or the vicar, except, 
as I have said before, the husband was deported to Puerto Princessa. 
I desire to say that this has never been published. It is a skeleton in 
a closet. 

Q. What would be the result if the friars should attempt to go back 
to their parishes'^ 

A. I can not tell for a certainty, but I believe that it would be fatal. 

Q. Don't you think that the people in the islands are sincere 
Catholics? 

A. Yes, sir; sincerely Catholic; and if to-day there are a few other 
religions gaining an entrance to the islands the fault lies wholly at the 
door of the friars. 

Q.- Do the people want education ? 

A. I should say so; yes, sir. They are very anxious to have it. 

Q. Would they like education in English? 

A. If it were possible, in all languages. The proof of this fact is 
seen in the tremendous attendance at the night schools which have 
recently been opened to give instruction in English. A large number 



OHUECH LAIRDS IJ^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 153 

of persons who would like to attend are unable to do so, because they 
have to work hard to gain a livelihood for their parents, who are unable 
to work. 

Q. Do they have to work nights ? 

A. Yes; some of them; like many of the small water-carriers and 
shoemakers. 

We intend to give as much opportunity as we can to those night 
schools and to enlarge them. We have application for another now, 
and we are going to establish it. We are confronted in starting an 
extended system of education all through the islands with this diffi- 
cult}^: Under the American system of government there is a complete 
separation of church and state; the church conducts its affairs, and 
the people pursue religious worship as they please. On the other hand, 
the church has no influence with the state and the state is not permitted 
to furnish religious instruction to the youth of the country. We 
encounter a feeling here, manifested through the Jesuits, and perhaps, 
people generally, that they are opposed to a system of education with- 
out instruction in the Catholic religion. In order to meet that objec- 
tion it has been suggested that we should have public schools in 
which no religion is taught by the public school-teacher, but we should 
give authorit}^ to have religious instruction of these people, with the 
consent of their parents, a half an hour before the school hour and half 
an hour afterwards, but not make it obligatory. I would like to know 
3^our opinion as to how that would work and would satisfy- the feeling 
among the Catholics that the}^ must unite religious instruction with 
education ? It is not even necessar}^ to have any religious instruction 
at all in the public schools, because all the people of the Philippines 
are deeply religious from a Catholic standpoint; this is deep rooted in 
their hearts, and they drink it in with their mother's milk, and they 
know no instruction in school. They can get all the instruction they 
need in matters religious from their own parents or their own homes. 

Q. Then you think it better not to attempt that other ? 

A. Entireh", for the people of the country are naturally religious. 
To show how deep rooted this religion is, it has become a fanaticism. 

Q. How would it work out in this way: Suppose we establish good 
public schools, pa}^ teachers well, and have a good system, not like the 
old, and suppose the church were to sa}^ or the church authorities 
were to say, "'You can not send your children to these schools because 
there is no religion taught in them," where would the people stand in 
an instruction like that'^ 

A. The Filipino people would flock to where the}^ could get instruc- 
tion, irrespective of what the priests should wish. 

Q. Would it not affect the standing of the priests very much and 
the influence of the priests, whoever they are, if it becomes known to 
the people, as it must become known, that the only wa}^ the priests 
can be paid is by the voluntary contributions of the people and that 
the priests will exercise no political functions whatever, and if as now 
under General Order No. 4o, and as it probably will be under any 
other law, thej^ are denied the right to hold office ? After three or four 
years will that not very much change the view of the people as to the 
importance of who the priests are in the town ? 

A. No, sir; I believe that the priests could stiU continue to live 
through the voluntary contributions of the people. Undoubtedly 
the influence they may have wielded in a political way would naturally 



154 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

disappear, but they would have considerable religious influence, because 
when the Filipino is given liberty of action and freedom of conscience 
and is at liberty to choose any religion, as the Catholic is the one he 
knows or cares to know, he would remain a Catholic, and if the priest 
would say: "I am bereft of the support of any government and I have 
to live upon voluntary contributions," the majority of the people would 
gladly provide them with money and make good donations to them. 

Q. You have not gotten what I want. Let us assume that the 
friar went back. If he were deprived of his political functions and 
dependent upon people for contributions on which to live, would not 
his position be very much changed from what it was before? Not 
that I mean that a friar is going back, but let us assume it. In other 
words, would it not draw his fangs? 

A. You have to proceed from the hypothesis that the great mass of 
the people here are ignorant, and if a friar goes back and goes to work 
on that ignorance he is possessed of the dexterity and cleverness to 
make it redound to his credit and to get money, and you must remem- 
ber that ignorance is all pervading here. In a pueblo there may be 
20 men who are educated, and the friars working upon that ignorance 
would get up slowly but certainly a feud between the educated and 
the ignorant. 

Q. What would be the effect if the Government were to make a con- 
tract with the friars, or by condemnation were to bu}'- the property of 
the friars and sell it out to the tenants in small divisions and use the 
money for a school fund? 

A. A very favorable result would ensue from that and there would 
be general contentment. 

Expressions of thanks. 



October 20, 1900. 
INTERVIEW WITH MAXIMO VIOLA, OF SAN MIGUEL DE MAYUMO. 

Q. Were you born in the Philippines? 

A. Yes. 

O. In what part of the islands have you lived? 

A. Except the time I spent in Europe to finish my education (a 
little over four years) I have lived nearly the whole time in the prov- 
ince of Bulacan. 

Q. About what is your age ? 

A. I am 43 years old. 

Q. What is your profession? 

A. I am a physician. 

Q. You studied in France? 

A. Principally in Spain, although I have been in France, Germany, 
and Austria. 

Q. What vears were you in Vienna? 

A. In the^ear 1887. 

Q. Have you practiced your profession in Bulacan? 

A. I have practiced my profession constantly from the latter part 
of 1887 until 1891 in Bulacan, when through persecutions of the friars 
I was driven to Manila, where I remained practicing until 1899, then 
returning to Bulacan, where I continued the practice. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 155 

Q. How far is San Miguel de Mayumo from here ? 

A. There are two wo^js of getting there: One is by going by train 
from Manila to Calumpit and from there by steamer to Candaba and 
from Candaba to San Miguel in banca; the other way is to go from 
Manila to Calumpit by train, to Bulacan in carromata and from there 
to San Miguel in carromata, about eight hours for the whole trip, or 
four hours the last part. I came in August, and on account of the 
conditions caused by rains I was five days in banca. 

Q. How much opportunity did you have to know the doings and 
lives of the friars in the Philippines before 1896? 

A. I was the ph^^sician of some friars. I have also had relations 
with all the friars who have been in my town and also in neighboring 
towns. 

Q. I suppose 3^our practice is generall}^ through the province ? 

A. Yes, sir; and even extends to adjoining provinces and in Nueva 
Ecija also. 

Q. They say the knowledge of a physician of the inner life of the 
people is more intimate than that of an v other profession ? 

A. Naturally. Hence, I shall onh^ make references to their public 
life, for their private and secret life is professional in its nature. 

Q. Do 3"ou know from what class of society the friars were drawn 
in Spain? 

A. In Spain I knew several friars who were sons of poor families 
with a large number of children, and who in order to get a profession 
and livelihood would go to the theological seminaries attached to the 
convents. In these seminaries they begin with the rudiments of an 
education until they are graduated, but the}" never see anybody except 
fellow friars and have no touch with the world, and the only thing 
they know in the waj^ of treatment is the treatment of the superior to 
the inferior. When they come over they become despots and they 
understand no other relation. 

Q. Have you any particular information about the agricultural prop- 
erty owned by the friars ? 

A. Yes, sir. For instance, the hacienda of Tampol in the pueblo of 
Quingua and also another hacienda in Santa Maria de Pandi, both 
these belonging to the Augustinians and Dominicans. 

Q. Are they large ? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Have you any idea how large? 

A. The first named hacienda is a sugar plantation and is of consid- 
erable extent. The other hacienda is made up of rice land and is also 
of considerable size. 

Q. What political functions did the friars actually exercise in your 
parish ? 

A. They exercised all functions. The}^ were the lieutenants of the 
civil guard, the captain of the pueblo, the governor of the province. 
To show this, the frair would always watch the elections, and if an}^ 
provincial governor or an}" municipal authority were elected by the 
people whom he did not desire to hold office, he would for subordinate 
officers appeal to the provincial governor and for these governors to 
the governor-general, and state that if these officers who had been 
elected were permitted to assume their offices that the public order 
would be endangered because they were Masons, or any other specious 
argument would be advanced so as to make the superior authorities set 



156 CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

at naught the will of the people and appoint whoever might be thought 
suitable or f riendl}^ to the friar, but often this was not necessary, as the 
friar would so wield the elections as to get only those to vote who were 
his blind followers. He performed the duties of lieutenant of the civil 
guard by demanding of every person who came to him to be either 
married or to have a child baptized or for a burial, their cedula, which 
he would retain until such a time as the fees were paid, and then he 
would report the person whose cedula he had retained to the lieuten- • 
ant of the civil guard as being without a cedula, and he would be jailed 
until such time as he should get another cedula. 

Q. What was the morality of the parish priests? 

A. There was no morality. If I was to rehearse the whole history 
it would be interminable; but I shall confine myself to concrete cases, 
beginning with the vows of chastit}^ which everyone knows they have to 
take. Upon this point it were better to consult the children of friars 
in every town where there are at least four or five or more, who have 
cost their mother's many bitter tears for having brought them into the 
world, not only because of the dishonor, but also because of the num- 
erous deportations brought about by the friars to get rid of them. 
The vow of poverty is also loudly commented on by the fact that in every 
town, however poor it may be, the convent is the finest building,, 
whereas in Europe or elsewhere the schoolhouse is the finest building. 
With regard to other little caprices of the friars, I might say that 
whenever a wealthy resident of the town is in his death throes the 
Filipino coadjutor of the friar is never permitted to go to his bedside 
and confess him, the Spanish friar always goes, and there he paints to 
the penitent the torments of hell and the consequences of an evil life, 
thus adding to the terrors of the deathbed. He also states his soul 
may be saved b}^ donating either real or personal property to the 
church. There are hundreds of donations of this kind which still 
exist. For instance, in the town of Bigaa, the altar in the church is of 
silver, a donation from the Constantine family ; and in San Miguel the 
silver alter is a donation from the family of Don Cefanno de Leon, the 
grandfather having donated mone^ sufficient to pay for it on his 
deathbed; and if the patient dies the family is compelled to have 
a most expensive funeral, with all the incidental expenses which 
go to the church, or be threatened with deportation or imprison- 
ment; and if the dead person is a pauper, and has naturally nothing to 
pay with, or if he is a servant or a tenant, the master or employer has 
to pay or he will be deported, as happened to my brother-in-law, Moises 
Santiago, who was a pharmacist, and was deported in the month of 
November, 1895, because he did not pay the funeral expenses of the 
son of the female servant in his house. The father of this child was a 
laborer, and had funds sufiicient to defray the burial expenses, and the 
friar was so informed by my brother-in-law, and they said they had 
nothing to do with that, and that he was his master and would have to 
pay or sufi'er the consequences, which he did. I myself came very 
near being deported under the following circumstances: A woman 
heavy with child died in the fifth month of gestation. The friar curate 
demanded that I should perform the Caesarian operation upon the 
corpse, in order to baptize the foetus. I declined to perform the oper- 
ation, because I had a wound in my finger and feared blood poisoning. 
He told me it was my duty to m3^self and to my conscience to perform 
the operation, in order that he might baptize the foetus, and I told him 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 157 

my conscience did not so impel me, and 1 declined to do it, and he 
said, "Take care." Those two words were sufficient to send me hur- 
riedly to Manila, where I remained from 1895, the 3^ear in which this 
occurred, to 1899. If the dying person is a pauper, with no one to pay 
fees, the Spanish friar does not go to confess him, but sends the Filipino, 
and when he dies without burial fees his corpse is often allowed to rot, 
and there have been manj^ cases where the sacristans of the church have 
been ordered b}" the friar to hang the corpse publicly, so that the rela- 
tives may be thus compelled to seek the fees somewhere sufficient to 
bury the corpse. 

Q. What proportion of the friars do you think violated their vows 
of celibacy? 

A. I do not know of a single one of all those I have known in the 
province of Bulacan who has not violated his vow of celibacy. The 
very large majority of the mestizos in the interior are sons of friars. 

Q. Does a hostility exist among the people against the friars ? 

A. A great deal. If you were to ask the inhabitants of the Philip- 
pines, one by one, that question, they would all say the same that 
they hated the friars, because there is scarcely a person living here 
who has not in one way or another suffered at their hands. 

Q. What is the chief ground of that hostility? 

A. The despotism and the immoralit3\ 
p Q. Had other cases than the immoralit}^ not existed, do you think 
the immorality was sufficient? 

A. Yes; that would be a sufficient cause, for the simple reason that 
the immoralit}^ brings as a natural consequence in its train despotism, 
intimidation, and force to carry out their desires and designs; for all 
may be reduced to this that the Filipino who did not bow his head in 
acquiescence had it cut off from his shoulders. 

Q. In other words, this was only a manifestation of the power they 
exercised over the people. That was one end toward which they used 
their power ? 

A. Immoralit}" was the chief end. 

Q. What have you to say of the morality of the native priests? 

A. They blindly obeyed whatever the friar says; they have neither 
individual will nor thought. 

Q. Are the}^ also loose in their relations with women ? 

A. Many of them, also. From my own personal experience I think 
all the priests and friars are on the same level. I have never seen one 
that was pure. I don't deny there may be exceptions, but I have 
not seen them. The large majority hav^e violated their vows of celi- 
bacy and chastity. For this reason I believe that Protestantism will 
have a very good field here, for one reason alone, and that is that the 
Protestant ministers marry and that will eradicate all fear of attacks 
upon the Filipino families on their part. 

Q. What education and preparation for the discharge of their duties 
have the native priests ? 

A. They are sufficiently well educated to discharge their sacred 
offices, but heretofore they have been overshadowed by the friars and 
prevented from exercising their own discretion in the management of 
the parishes. 

Q. What do you think about the possibility of establishing a sj^stem 
of public education without an}^ religious instruction in it? 

A. That would be satisfactory to the people, because the Catholic 



158 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

religion is very deep rooted here and the parents would always bring- 
the children up in that religion, no matter whether it was taught in 
the schools or elsewhere. The fact is, that until they arrive at years 
of discretion, and allow their own consciences to control them, the 
Catholic religion will always prevail in these islands. 

Q. What do you think would be the effect of the buying of the 
haciendas of the religious orders by the Government and selling them 
out in small parcels to the present tenants ? 

A. That would give ver}^ good results, and if the proceeds of these 
funds were applied to a fund for public schools it would be a matter 
for which the Filipino people, all of them, would be very grateful. 

Expressions of thanks. 



October 23, 1900. 
INTERVIEW WITH DR. T. H. PARDO DE TAVERA. 

Q. How long have you lived in the Philippine Islands? 

A. 1 was born in the Philippine Islands and left here at 16 years 
of age. 

Q. And when did you return ? 

A. I was absent twenty years, returning here in the year 1891. 

Q. You are by profession a physician, and 3^ou were pursuing your 
studies as such abroad? 

A. Yes, sir. I was pursuing my medical studies in Paris, but while 
1 was in Paris I did not lose any of the happenings of my country, for 
1 have alwa3^s followed them with a very close eye. I have followed 
them politically, socially, and historically. 

Q. Have j^ou had a good deal of opportunity personally to know the 
friars ? 

A. Yes; because I was a student of the University of Santo Thomas, 
and naturally was in close contact. ^ 

Q. Your home is in Manila? 

A. Yes. 

Q. You were born in Manila? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Do you know, either from knowledge derived from here or 
abroad, from what class of society the friars were drawn ? 

A. They were drawn from the lowest class. There are some from 
the middle class, but they are rare exceptions. 

Q. Are they well educated ? 

A. No; they are very ordinary people, and are mostly educated 
here in Manila. In the college we could tell the recently arrived friar 
by his bucolic manners — a rough kind of admixture of egotism and 
mysticism. 

Q. Have you any definite information about the property of the 
friars ? 

A. No; I know generally that the}^ have a great deal of property 
here, and that recently an association or syndicate was formed for the 
purpose of purchasing the property of the Dominicans, and a pam- 
phlet was published giving a list of those properties, and from that I 
have come to know what they were, so far as the Dominicans are con- 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 159 

cerned. The other orders I know have large holdings of real estate 
outside of Manila and in the provinces and also in the city. 

Q. Do 3"ou know from personal experience what political functions- 
and powers were exercised by the friars in the parishes ? 

A. Of course, I do not know b}" actual observation in the outside 
parishes, for I have never lived there, but by conversation and treat- 
ing with persons from the outlying provinces and parishes I have 
gained a considerable knowledge. Besides, it was no secret that the 
friars had a great influence in all matters of a political or administra- 
tive nature. 

Q. Do 3^ou know what influence the heads of the church had with 
the heads of the civil government in Manila "i 

A. Yer}" great were the influences, for the archbishops and bishops, 
by reason of their ecclesiastical hierarchy, formed a part of what was 
known here in Manila as the board of authorities. This board was 
composed of the captain-general, the attorney -general, the military 
governor, the commander of the naval forces, the secretary of the 
general government, the president of the audiencia, the director- 
general of the civil administration, the treasurer, and the archbishop 
and bishops, and in recent times there were added the civil governor 
of the province of Manila and the provincials of the different monastic 
orders. The above constituted the board of authorities. 

Q. What functions did the}^ have ? 

A. The duties of this board were principally to investigate matters 
of urgent moment, and in times of crises to advise the governor- 
general. The archbishop and bishops also formed a part of the council 
of administration, a body analogous to the council of state of Spain 
and of France. 

Q. Were the ecclesiastics prone to assert influence, or did the}^ con- 
fine their attention to relioious affairs? 

A. The}^ did not confine their influence to their ecclesiastical func- 
tions, and to understand this it will be necessar}^ to form an idea of the 
political make-up of Spain. In America, the different religions have 
nothing to do with the state. In Spain, the religion and the state are 
one and the same thing. To give a better idea it would be well to bring' 
to mind the old pontifical state, where the Pope was the head of the 
church and state, and that was Spain. The King of Spain in order to 
avoid any difficulties with Rome had caused himself to be given the 
right of Yojail patronage , whereb}^ the King of Spain became a sort of 
authority in the church. If there are some states which separate 
church and state to avoid complications with Rome, Spain joined the 
church and state for the ver}- same purpose. 

Q. How much political power did the friars exercise in the country 
parishes ? 

A. It flows from this explanation, that the Spaniard could never 
separate himself from the influence which the church had upon him, 
and the result of that was that the friars wielded all the influence 
political and ecclesiastical in the parishes. I do not refer now to the 
moral influence of the friar, because the friar curate had to put his 
vise or O. K. on every administrative document that was issued, such 
as census documents, etc., and personal recommendations of every 
individual within his jurisdiction who desired to take a public office. 
His opinion was sought upon every conceivable subject. I say this 
so as to avoid going into too many details. This placing his O. K. on 



160 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

all these documents was not in response to any instructions or duties, 
but just because it suited his sacerdotal pleasure. I believe that is the 
political influence which it is sought to get at in the question. 

Q. Was it generally understood that the friars as a body exercised 
much political influence in the central government? 

A. 1 should say so. For from the time of their arrival here they 
were the only ones who treated with the Indians. They were the only 
interpreters between them and the Government. Moreover, it may 
be said that there was no continuous administrative policy as regards 
this colony. At one time the head of the colony would be here and 
govern in one way, and he would be superseded by another who would 
govern in another way — in other words, there was no set policy. On 
the other hand, in these monastic corporations the men died, but the 
principles and the government went on forever, and therefore they, 
perforce, governed the country, because they followed traditional 
lines without change. 

Q. The individuals in the church hierarchy remained a great deal 
longer than the individuals in the civil government? 

A. For the simple reason that they have always vaunted the fact 
that they expelled anyone in the civil government that they pleased. 

Q. Have you much personal knowledge of the morality or immo- 
rality of the friars? 

A. I ought to draw a distinction, for in the American sense of the 
word " immorality " it embraces several departures from the right 
path, while in the Filipino sense it simply meant sexual departures 
from moralit3^ Larceny, robbery, etc., were another kind of immo- 
rality. The friars had great notoriety as immoral men in the Filipino 
sense. It was so common that hardly any notice was taken of it. 
Some of the younger friars said it was merely human weakness, but 
nevertheless with that peculiar Spanish spirit, they prided themselves 
upon these facts. 

Q. It is not true that they were all immoral? 

A. Oh, by no means. 

Q. There were some who were very well educated and refined and 
who obeyed their vows, were there not? 

A. Yes; and many, especiall}^ among the Dominicans, were of that 
kind. 

Q. Did the common people not accept this thing as a matter of fact, 
and not regard it as a reason in one way or the other for influencing 
their feeling against the friars ? 

A. Of course. 

Q. What was the real ground for the feeling of the people against 
the friars? 

A. I have before said that the friars were the sovereigns of the 
country. The}^ did everything, so that as the country was dissatisfied 
with the conditions that prevailed, with the injustice, persecutions, 
and abuses of ever}^ kind, they hated the friar because they saw in the 
friar the responsible head of afi'airs. At the beginning the friar was 
the protector of the Indians, and the Indians were governed by the 
friars and accepted unquestionably every one of his acts, but after- 
wards when they began to suffer the consequences of every kind of 
abuse on the part of the friars, they began to think where all these 
hardships and grievances came from and the}^ discovered that they 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 161 

came from the friars, and there was a regular torrent of hatred against 
them. 

Q. As representative of the opinion against the Spanish? 

A. As representatives and the source. The fact is, if the Philip- 
pines had been a country governed with justice, the friars would have 
enjoyed the glory of it, but as it has been miserably exploited, they 
must bear the responsibility. This is very historical. In Malolos, 
for instance, the municipal authorities were expelled because they were 
not favorable to the friars and were not religious, and I have here a 
letter of the governor-general in which he makes that charge, and I 
will add that the man who sent this letter, Ramon Blanco, was a free 
thinker and a liberal man. 

Q. Do you think that the friars were responsible, or otherwise, for 
the deportation of a good man}" people ? 

A. Oh, 3"es. It is entirely beyond doubt from the Calamba case, 
the Binondo feast at this very time of the year in 1887, and the expul- 
sion of the municipal authorities at Malolos. 

Q. What do you think of the native priests as compared with the 
friars ? 

A. They are as ignorant and as immoral, and have all the same defects 
and vices as the friars, as they were educated by the friars. 

Q. Have the}" less education ? 

A. Perhaps a little less. 

Q. What do you think would be the result generally if the friars 
attempted to go back to their parishes ? 

A. I have heard many persons say that they would assassinate any 
friars who returned. 

Q. I have heard it said by people whose opportunities for observa- 
tion on one side of the question would be fairly good, that this oppo- 
sition to the friars is due to the native priests and to a few men in each 
village, and that it does not permeate the mass of the people. To the 
Katipunans- 

A. I would like to ask those persons who have expressed this opin- 
ion, how many men they think belonged to the Katipunans. In the 
Tagalog provinces alone there were over 200,000, and it must be remem- 
bered that these members of the Katipunan society not only had resolved 
to attack the friars, but also to go into a revolution in which they 
exposed their lives, and there were many other enemies of the friars 
in the pueblos who were not bold enough to enter into the Katipunan 
society; so I do not believe the number of the enemies of the friars is 
so small. 

Q. You think, then, it does go through the masses of the people ? 

A. I believe so. There are exceptions, notably in the provinces of 
Pangasinan and Ilocos, where the friars kept the people in absolute 
ignorance, and they respected them like priests whose actions they 
never dared to discuss, and I believe it is in those provinces that the 
friars desire to make an effort to return. 

Q. We are not permitted to pay anybody to teach religion as a part 
of the public-school system. Now we can either establish public 
schools in which no religion is taught at all, or we can permit the 
Catholic priest or anyone selected by him to come there for a half an 
hour or an hour, as he may see fit, once every day or once every week 
to give religious, instruction to the children of parents who desire it, 

S. Doc. 190 11 



162 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

either before or after school hours. What do you think of these two 
systems, and which would be the better? 

A. The latter is the better. To allow them to come. To permit 
any minister to come. 

Q. That is what I intended, but naturally it will be the Catholic 
minister in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. 

A. It must be borne in mind that the people of these islands have 
been used to having everything explained to them through proclama- 
tions, public documents, and circulars, and the thing that ought to be 
done in this instance is to thoroughly explain the matter beforehand, 
letting them know that the Government is not to give religious instruc- 
tion, but that the people are at perfect liberty to listen to religious 
instruction from the people that they themselves may select to give it. 

Q. What do you think would be the effect of the Government's con- 
demning the agricultural property of the friars and selling it out in 
small parcels, using the proceeds for a school fund ? 

A. I believe it would be excellent. The Filipinos as a whole believe 
it is so excellent a thing that they don't believe it can hardly happen. 
I am now referring to the ignorant people. 

Expressions of thanks. 



OCTOBEE 22, 1900. 
PEDRO SURANO LAKTAW. 

Q. When were you born ? 

A. I was born in October, 1853, and am 47 3^ears of age. 

Q. You are a young man. 

A. Worn-out with fatigues and efforts to overcome people who have 
tried to down me; but I have forgiven them all. It was not their fault, 
it was the fault of the times. 

Q. Will you state your profession ? 

A. I am a teacher. My degree as a teacher of elementary schools I. 
got in Manila; the degree of superior teacher I received in Salamanca, 
Spain, and degree as instructor of normal schools I got in Madrid. 

Q. Are you teaching now? 

A. I am now engaged in getting up a new commercial corporation 
with Don Pedro Paterno. In order to gain a livelihood during the late 
Spanish regime, I secured a position as teacher of one of the schools 
in Manila after a competitive examination. During the governor- 
generalship of Despujol I was charged with being in politics, and the 
school I had in Binondo was taken from me, but Governor-General 
Roman Blanco, upon my proving that I was innocent, gave me a school 
in Quiapo, which I also lost later on in the time of the insurrection 
under his administration, and I was sent to jail for a year under similar 
charges. At the end of this time I proved my innocence and I was 
released, but I was never given any other school. 

Q. You were born in these islands and have lived here, with the 
exception of the four years ? 

A. I was born in the capital pueblo of Bulacan, showing that I am 
a pure Tagalog. 

Q. How long did you live in Bulacan ? 

A. All my life except the time I spent in Europe and educating my- 



CHUUCH LANDS 11^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 168 

self in Manila, and nine months that I taught school in Pampanga. 
Since I lost my last teachership in Manila I have remained here, but 
every year I have made a trip to my home. 

Q. Do you think you know enough about the friars to testify as to 
them ? 

A. I think I am in a position to know more about them than any 
other Filipino, because through my position as a teacher I was brought 
in constant contact with them. I have prepared a written statement 
of all the principal points in my contact with the friars during my 
life here, which I will leave with the commission if they desire it. 

A. We will ask the questions first and then see whether they cover 
what we desire. 

Q. This statement is really a set of answers to the questions, and 
the three accompanjdng documents are historical sketches referring to 
the same subject. 1 thought it better to put down my answers in 
writing so that the humble opinion I have to express might not be 
distorted. 

Q. I will have your manuscript translated, but will first get it in 
form by the usual questions and answers — that is, briefly. 

A. The first statement contains my own personal answers; the sec- 
ond document, which I presented to Don Esteros, the Subsecretary 
of tne colonies of Spain, is a collection of historical data, first, prov- 
ing that the Philippines never belonged to Spain in any wa}^; and, 
second, that the friars would never obey the civil authorities, and that 
ecclesiastically they were all breaking their vows. It is filled with 
citations in support of my assertions from histories written by the 
friars themselves. I have drunk from no other source. The last doc- 
ument is a refutation based upon the work of a Jesuit, reviewing the 
assertion of an Augustinian friar that the Filipinos were all bad and 
that the friars were always their friends. These documents all prove 
that from the time of the very first governer-general in the Philippines 
down to the last that the friars were always the same. 

Q. Do you know definitely what property the friars own here? If 
you do not know except generally, I will not trouble you to answer, 
for I have other means of getting that answer. 

A. I have mentioned some in my manuscript. I can not answer 
except generally. 

Q. What political functions did the friars actually exercise in the 
pueblos ? 

A. All, without exception. Even those which the governor-general 
was not able to exercise. One of the most terrible arms that the friars 
wielded in the provinces was the secret investigation and report upon 
the private life and conduct of a person. For instance, if someone 
had made accusations against a resident of a pueblo and laid them 
before the governor-general, he would have private instructions sent 
to the curate of the town to investigate and report upon the private 
life of that resident, stating that he had been charged with conspiring 
against the Spanish sovereignt}^ This resident was having his private 
life investigated without any notice to him whatever and in a secret 
way, and the report was always sent secret!}^ to the governor-general, 
and he might be the intimate friend of the governor of the province 
or of the gobernadorcillo of the town or of the commander of the 
civil guard in his town. He would render reports openly very favor- 
able to him, but notwithstanding this the governor-general would 



164 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

receive the secret report of the friar and act upon it. For instance, 
there have been many cases in pueblos where a large number of the 
inhabitants have attended a feast in honor of the birthday of the gov- 
ernor of the province and have partaken of his hospitality, being inti- 
mate friends of his, and three or four days later nearly all of them 
have been arrested and imprisoned, charged with being conspirators 
against the life of the governor and against the continuance of the 
Spanish sovereignty through secret information received from the 
friar curate. This is the secret of their great political influence in the 
country, for from the governor-general down to the lowest subordi- 
nate of the Spanish Government they feared the influence of the friar 
at home, which was very great, owing either to social position there or 
to power of money here, and I mj^self have seen several officers of 
high rank in the army and officials of prominence under the Govern- 
ment sent back long before their times of service had expired at the 
instigation of the friars. For instance, the governor-general, Despu- 
jol, who was an upright, honest, and just man, and who only remained 
here fifteen months because he showed his friendship for the Filipino, 
and I desire to add that no man has treated me more harshly than 
Despujol, on the ground that I was a Mason and he was a very ardent 
Catholic, but notwithstanding his ardent Catholicism he only stayed 
here fifteen months. 

Q. What do you know as to the morality of the friars? 

A. 1 have already related in my statement a few cases, and 1 would 
prefer to answer the question by sa3dng that the details of the immoral- 
ity of the friars are so base and so indecent that instead of smirching 
the friars I would smirch myself by relating them. 

When 1 was a boy of seven years of age, on the opposite side of the 
street from my house two ladies lived. They were Filipinos, and I 
noticed two little children there and I would ask my mother and the 
servants why it was that they were prettier than we or anybody in the 
town, and I was told that the friar would know, and I learned he had 
as his mistresses two sisters living under one roof, and that these 
children were the children of either one or both of them; and this was 
done publicly, for leaving out the question of his avowed celibacy 
and chastity, he had broken another vow which would not permit anj^- 
one to marry a deceased wife's sister, and here this man was living 
with two sisters at the same time. 

Q. Do you think all the friars were like that? Were there not 
some who obeyed their vows and were virtuous and lived pious lives ? 

A. I have already referred to that in my statement, for I desire to 
be just under all circumstances. Before replying further to this 
question I should like to complete the answer to the last. In the 
quarters of a town farthest removed from the center, the family 
life is purer there. There may be a few cases of concubinage, but 
there are comparatively very few, while in the center of the towns 
the cases of this kind are very numerous, as are also robbery and 
other crimes. In a word, it can be truthfulty said that the morality 
of the Filipino people becomes looser and looser as it nears the neigh- 
borhood of the convent. 

In answer to the second question, I may say that there are excep- 
tions, but they are unfortunately very few. I recall one instance of 
the friar curate of Apalit, in Pampanga, who was named Gamarra, and 
who was an upright and thoroughly religious man. He would marry 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 165 

all those who were living in concubinage free ; he would bury the poor 
free, and perform man}^ charitable and Christian acts, and would stand 
between the authorities and the unjustly accused. The fact is that while 
he was the curate there there was not a single deportation. He visited 
the sick, he comforted all those who came to him in trouble; he was, in a 
word, a pure Christian minister of God, but as he was the one shining 
light amid the darkness of those who sang in chorus the airs of immo- 
rality, he was through their machinations brought to Manila and placed 
in charge of a convent; but this was done so as not to injure his feel- 
ings in an}" wo^j or make him believe that there was an^^thing behind 
the removal. 

Q. There were other instances? 

A. In that same pueblo of Apalit, which has been very fortunate in 
this regard, there was another friar curate of the same character, but 
unfortunate^ I can not recall his name at this moment. There was also 
another in the pueblo of Paombong, province of Bulacan, whose name 
I also have forgotten for the moment, but the fact is that they remained, 
unfortunately, in their pueblos but a ver}" short time. The good friar 
never remains long in his field of work. 

Q. Do you know much about the native clergy? 

A. Quite a good deal. 

Q. Did each friar have with him a native assistant? 

A. Not all of them. In the large towns they did. In the smaller 
towns they had none and in some of the ver}" smallest towns they had 
neither friars nor secular clergy. There are a ver}" few native priests 
now. At one time there were quite a number, but since the garroting 
of the three native priests in 1872, because they requested that native 
priests be placed over the curacies, there has been no incentive for 
natives to enter the priesthood, because they do not wish to be treated 
as servants and domineered over at a very small salary. I remember 
a ver}^ wise Filipino who was made a bishop, but unfortunately he 
became blind before assuming the episcopal chair. His name was 
Mariam Gracia. There have been a number of highly educated native 
priests in days gone by. This man whom I mentioned b}" name had 
been a ver}" deep student and was a very pious man. He could even, 
after becoming blind, come out of his house unattended, enter his car- 
riage, get out and go to the altar, say mass and return home again. 
He had a servant in his house who was studying Latin, and so wonder- 
ful was the memory of this man that when the servant would say that 
he wanted to look in the dictionary for a Avord, he would tell him it 
was on a certain page and on such a line, but since 1872 the incentive 
to become a »priest has entirely disappeared. This man was the last 
Filipino bishop. Before him there had been many. 

Q. Are not the present clergy inferior, in that the}" have not suffi- 
cient education and that their morals are not unlike those of the friars 
with whom they associated? 

A. I have also answered those questions. In the desire to be just I 
have stated in my answer that the present Filipino priest, saving a very 
few exceptions, has all the defects of the friar and none of his good 
points. 

Q. I want to ask whether the deep-seated hostility to the friars 
which many seem to entertain extends to the masses of the people ? 

A. While we who claim to be somewhat educated dislike the friar 
and would be unwilling to have him suffer what he has made us suffer, 



166 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

the masses, who are unthinking to a certain extent and who are but 
the beasts of burden and have therefore suffered in a certain way more 
than the others, are the most uncompromising and the most vengeful 
against the friars. 

Q. Do you think it would be safe for the friars to go back to their 
parishes ? 

A. I do not believe that they can ever return safely to their parishes, 
and I will say further that I fear that some uprising against the friars 
may be misinterpreted by the American Government as an uprising 
against it, which would be disastrous. The same thing happened in 
the revolution against Spain which was directed entirely against the 
friars, who, however, made the Government believe that it was against 
it, and this was so untrue that in the treaty of Biacana Bato all that 
the Filipinos asked was the expulsion of the friars. They did not ask 
for independence, and were willing to remain under the sovereignty of 
Spain if the friars were expelled; but seeing that the Government did not 
carry out its promises, and determined to get rid of the friars, they rose 
up in arms against it. As a son of the people, I have heard it stated that 
one of the most prominent reasons why the Filipinos under arms do not 
desire to lay them down and why a large number of those who are not in 
arms are standing aloof is that the fear, or perhaps it were better said, for 
a suspicion, that the American Government is befriending the friar, not 
openly but covertly, and 1 have regretted very much that this idea has 
become so general throughout the islands. What has grieved me 
more, perhaps, than any other one thing is the trip of Monsignor 
Chapelle a day or two ago to Dagupan, taking with him at his side a 
Dominican friar, and also two other friars, who, it is reported, are to 
take the place of the secular priest Garces. now the curate of Dagu- 
pan. The people of the Philippine Islands are Catholics, and their 
efforts now are directed against the classes or orders of that religion. 
They have not yet determined upon going a step further and taking 
the religion of their fathers, but if the friars remain here and are sup- 
ported by the Government 1 have no doubt that the large majority of 
the people of the islands will then fight even their religion. The friar 
can return to his parish without any fear of being attacked or med- 
dled with by the thinking classes of the Filipinos, because they recog- 
nize the fact that under American institutions he will have to rely 
upon voluntary contributions for his support and that before the Gov- 
ernment he will have no more standing and no more claim for protec- 
tion than the minister of any other religion or any other citizen; but 
the unthinking classes, the masses of the people, who know nothing of 
these things, will merely look upon the fact of his return as retrograde 
action and a revival of the times of absolutism, when the friars were 
in the ascendancy, and although, following out his natural bent, he 
may bow his head and be quiet for a time, what is greatly to be feared 
is that some day a tremendous explosion will occur, brought on by this 
very return of the friars to their parishes. 

Q. What do you think would be the result, should we establish a 
system of education without any religious instruction and the hierarchy 
of the church through the priests should denounce that system and 
order their parishoners not to send their children to the schools which 
we establish? What do you think would be the result? 

A. I shall answer that question in two ways. Up to the present the 
country still remains Catholic, save that it does not want the friar, 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 167 

and being' accustomed to hear at all times in classes and out of 
classes, at home and away from home, moral and Christian precepts 
and teachings, the people have become absolutely accustomed to it. 
They are further accustomed to pray at every moment before beoin- 
ning recitations in every book, and the Filipino children or their 
fathers would like to have it continued, but they don't want the 
friar to have an}^ part in it. For this reason and because the Filipino 
people are very conservative, we still see in all their homes the 
effigies of saints, either printed or painted, and statues of saints, 
and the rosary being said at all hours, and let not libertas or the friar 
lay the flattering unction to his soul that the large attendance at the 
procession was due to him, as he claims, but only to that great con- 
servatism and Catholicism which still exists in these islands. How- 
ever, a short time before the coming of the Americans to these islands 
there was a group of Filipinos, relatively small, who were freethinkers 
and very much opposed to Catholicism. Their numbers may be grow- 
ing, but not very appreciably up to the present time. My idea is that 
when the fathers of children request it instruction in religion from a 
Catholic standpoint should be given their children in the public schools, 
and that when they are silent on this matter they should receive 
no religious instruction whatever. One of the reasons which has con- 
tributed to the separation and the keeping separate of the Americans 
and the Filipinos is a proclamation issued just prior to the arrival of 
the Americans by Archbishop Nozaleda, in which he informed the 
faithful that the enemies of our religion, the American heretics, were 
about to appear among us. This was printed in the Ecclesiastical 
Bulletin of the archbishopric. Let me insert here, before I forget it, 
that when we Filipinos refer to the friars we do not mean all the 
monastic bodies, but only four of them — the Augustinians, the Domini- 
cans, the Franciscans, and the Recolectos. The Jesuits are not disliked 
at all by the Filipinos, because it may be said that they brought the 
first instruction and education to the Filipinos, and, by the way, the 
first ones who introduced jackets of this kind, which are called Ameri- 
cana, and educated the j^outh of the country, having graduated the 
best scholars among the people here, including Rizal and many others. 

Q. What would be the result of that controvers}^ that I suggested? 

A. Even now in the public schools under the American system a 
large number of parents do not send their children because religion is 
not taught there, and by reason of these facts, I have stated above, 
they would have a certain suspicion of the intentions of the American 
Government about education. 

Q. If provision were made for religious instruction to be given by 
anybody appointed by the church for a half an hour before and a half 
an hour after school hours, would that satisfy the people? 

A. It would not be necessary to devote a half an hour every day to 
that, but following the custom under the Spanish rule, to devote half 
an hour every Saturday for ecclesiasts. I think that would suffice. 
However, I believe that if the people at large were informed first of 
what free instruction under American institutions is and that no reli- 
gious instruction is to be paid for by the government in any way, that 
good results would flow from it; but this must be made very clear 
beforehand to the people. 

Q. What do you think would be the effect of buying all the lands 
of the friars, to be sold to the tenants now on the lands, and to have 
the proceeds used as a school fund? 



168 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

A. I think very good results would come of this if the precaution 
were taken before purchasing to find out what belonged to the friars, 
because the great thing now is to find out what they do own. 

Expressions of thanks. 



OCTOBEE 24, 1900. 
INTERVIEW WITH AMBROSIA FLORES. 

Q. How long have you been in the islands ? 

A. All of my life, for I have never left the islands. 

Q. In what provinces have you lived ? 

A. In Manila, Vigan, Lepanto, Cavite, Cebu, Zamboanga, Jolo, Par- 
aqua, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija. 

Q. You were a general in the insurgent army? 

A. Yes; I was. 

Q. How long were you in that capacity ? 

A. I was a general from May, 1898. 

Q. I meant how long were you in the army ? 

A. I was a general in 1898, and I afterwards discharged a civil office — 
civil governor, environs of Manila. 

Q. What were you doing before the revolution of 1896 ? 

A. I was a retired officer in the Spanish army. 

Q. Were you in the provinces you have named before or after 1896 ? 

A. In some before and some afterwards. After 1896 I was in the 
provinces of Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan, and Nueva 
Ecija. 

Q. Had you an opportunity before 1896 to know the friars and their 
relations to the people? 

A. Although by natural inclination and conviction I always desired 
to eschew close contact with the friars, I have, through the discharge 
of militar}^ and civil duties, been brought into rather close contact 
with them. 

Q. Do you know what actual authority of a political character they 
exercised before 1896 in their parishes? 

A. The political functions they discharged officially in their parishes 
were intervention and counsel in the local elections, reporting on the 
capacity and conduct of those elected, and, I might add in this regard, 
that this report was looked upon by the superior authorities in Manila 
with far more confidence than upon the unanimous vote of the people; 
confidential reports regarding the private life of the faithful in their 
parishes, which were made upon the investigations by the friars with- 
out the knowledge or intervention of the civil authorities; the O K-ing 
of all documents demanded or issued by the civil authorities, with 
single exception of notarial documents; extraofficially the}^ meddled 
in everything— they meddled in ever3^thing, without any responsibility 
whatever to anyone. 

Q. Is there a feeling of hostility or otherwise among the people 
against the friars ? 

A. A great feeling of hostility. 

Q. Does that afi'ect educated people only or the mass of the people? 

A. The feeling of animosity is common to all classes of society. 
During the Spanish rule among the lower classes it was not so notice 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 169 

able, because they could not express their feelings, but now it is very 
noticeable and is common to all classes. 

Q. I have heard from a person high in authority in the church that 
the feeling against the friars is chiefly due to the inciting by the native 
priests and that the body of the people desired their return. What 
is your opinion as to this? 

A. No, sir; that is not the fact, because there are many native 
priests who have incurred the illfeeling of the people by reason of 
favoring the friars. This may be caused by a fear on the part of 
these native priests of the return of the friars, but the fact is very 
patent that there is a great deal of feeling against them for espousing 
or apparently espousing the cause of the friars. 

Q. Does the feeling against the friars difi'er in different localities ? 

A. There is a difference undoubtedly, but it is due to the fact that 
in some provinces there is fanaticism carried to such an extent, like 
in Pangasinan, for instance, where the Dominicans have been able to 
keep the people under the influence of blind superstition and where 
they believe that the priest is a veritable god and absolutely impecca- 
ble; but in the great majority of the provinces the feeling of hatred 
against the friars permeates all classes. 

Q. Do you know whether there are in these islands a great many 
descendants of the friars ? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Is that generally understood? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. Do you know the persons and know who their fathers were ? 

A. I know several sons of friars, but at this moment remember one. 
I can furnish a long list of them, but now I think of but one. 

Q. Do you think the immorality was general or not — whether or not 
with a great many exceptions ? 

A. Yes, there were exceptions, but they were very rare. 

Q. What was the ground of the hostility against the friars ? 

A. The reasons for this hostility were many. In the first place, the 
haughty, overbearing, despotic manner of the friars. Then the ques- 
tion of the haciendas, because the conditions of their tenantry were 
very terrible. Then there was the fact of the fear which beset every 
man, even those who through fear were nearest to the friars, that if 
his eyes should light upon his wife or his daughter in an envious way 
that if he did not give them up he was lost. Another reason was that 
they were inimical to educating the people. Then again because of 
the parish fees, because they were very excessive, always compelling 
the rich to have the greatest amount of ceremony in their weddings, 
baptisms, and interments — whether they wanted it or not — and cost 
them thereby a good deal, and if they did not accede to the payment 
they would say they were Masons or filibusters. 

Q. Was the chief reason for the feeling of the people against the 
friars such as you have stated; that is, that they represented to the 
people the oppressive power of the Spanish people ? 

A. Yes, sir; exactly. 

Q. Do you think that if there were no other reason their great 
immorality would have made them unpopular? 

A. That would be sufiicient for this reason: That the means which 
they used to carry out their purposes with respect to women were the 
most grievous and oppressive. If thej^ had merel}^ desired a woman 



170 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

and courted her, nothing would have been said, but if the woman 
declined to allow their advances they used every effort in their power 
to compel her and her relatives to succumb. 

Q. How do the native priests compare in point of morality with the 
friars ? 

A. The present native priests are naturally contaminated by the 
friars, but although many of them have their amorous relations with 
women they do it in a quieter way. They don't use any force to carry 
out their ends. 

Q. How is it as to their education and capacity ? I am speaking as 
to the native priests. 

A. Their education is quite deficient, and it is due principally to the 
fact that there have been no theological seminaries here. When the 
Paulist fathers endeavored to give them instruction in theology, and 
seemed to be getting good results, the ecclesiastical authorities attacked 
the Paulist fathers, showing they had a deliberate intention to prevent 
the natives from securing education sufficient for sacerdotal functions. 

Q. Do the people desire to be educated? 

A. Very much so, and they have also shown a great desire to 
instruct themselves and educate themselves. 

Q. Are they all Catholics? 

A. All except those that live in the forests, like the Igorrotes, are 
Catholics. 

Q. And much attached to the church ? 

A. Yes; very much attached. 

Q. Do they regard religious teaching as a necessary part of a public- 
school system? 

A. To tell the truth about the matter, the people have never had a 
chance to express themselves upon that subject; but it is my own 
private opinion that the people would be pleased if some opportunity 
for religious instruction were afforded them in the schools. 

Q. Under the United States Government it would be impossible for 
us to devote public funds to the teaching of any particular religion; 
but we might (and that system prevails in some of the States in the 
United States) give to the priests an opportunity to instruct the chil- 
dren in religion, but after the regular school hours, should the parents 
of the children desire it. Do you think that would satisfy the people? 

A. Yes, that would satisfy them; but I think an hour or an half an 
hour for religious instruction every day is too much. I think that 
one day a week would satisfy them. I have thought a great deal upon 
this matter, and I have come to the conclusion that it would be wise to 
devote the morning of Thursday, which is the holiday here, to reli- 
gious instruction. 

Q. Of course, you understand that the Government could not pay 
the priests, or any teachei' appointed by them, to give this religious 
instruction. That would be the work of the Catholic Church, if it 
chose to employ a person for that purpose. 

A. I so understand, and I believe the Catholic Church should take 
that matter in hand. 

Q. You understand that we are not here to make them anything but 
Catholics. We want them to have the religion that they desire to 
have. 

A. We already understand that. As a matter of fact, during the 
late regime religion was taught here — rather, 1 should say, was not 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILTPPII^E TSLAIN-DS. l7l 

taught, because all that the pupils were taught was to pray and to 
commit to memory the catechism of Father Astete, and nothing more. 
There was no opening of the mind to truths, and what the people 
desire would be a dedication of certain hours in the week to religious 
instruction and religious training upon a scientific basis, so that those 
who had the capacit}^ could understand it. 

Q. You have mentioned the fact that the ownership of the haciendas 
is one ground for the popular feeling against the friars. Was not that 
confined large!}" to the provinces of Manila, Cavite, Laguna de Bay, 
and Bulacan, perhaps Batangas also? 

A. That is true, but as there are innumerable cases of this hatred 
throughout all the islands; it is a general feeling, and in these prov- 
inces where the haciendas are situated it is from that fact more accen- 
tuated. 

Q. Yes, but I want to know if in those provinces I have named the 
feeling did not partake of an agrarian spirit also ? 

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. What would the effect be if the Government should be able to 
buy these lands and the haciendas of the friars and sell them out in 
small parcels to the tenants on the lands and devote the proceeds to 
establishing a school fund? 

A. It would be very well received by the people; but if I may be 
permitted to make a remark upon the subject of buying lands, I believe 
that in many cases the friars can not prove any title whatever to the 
lands in question, thereby rendering it unnecessary to purchase them. 

Q. Of course, if they have no title, then the people who really own 
them might contest that title with them. 

As to the statute of limitation. In the American legislation, as 
well as Spanish, the plea of prescription can be made to prevail after 
the holding of property for many years adversely; but the point that 
suggests itself in this connection is that they have not held that land 
peacefully; that if there has been no contention against their title or 
against their holding the land it is because of the conditions that they 
created which prevented them from asserting their title. 

(Expressions of thanks.) 



NOVEJUBER 3, 1900. 
INTERVIEW WITH H. PHELPS WHITMARSH. 

Q. Will you please state your name ? 

A. H. Phelps Whitmarsh. 

Q. And where you were born ? 

A. In Canada — Medoc, Canada. 

Q. Are you a citizen of the United States? 

A. Yes; my father is an American. 

Q. Your profession is what? 

A. A writer and journalist. 

Q. What periodicals or journals have you corresponded for? 

A. Mainly the Centmy, Atlantic Monthly, and Outlook. 

Q. How long have you been in the Philippines? 

A. I have been in the Philippines about thirteen months. 



172 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. During the thirteen months of your stsij have you visited a 
great many different towns ? 

A. Yes, a great many. I have been all through the part of the 
archipelago occupied by the American troops and a good deal of that 
not occupied. 

Q. Have you come into contact with the inhabitants ? 

A. I have lived practically with them. 

Q. Have you a knowledge of Spanish sufficient to converse with 
them ? 

A. Yes; I can talk with them. I learned that in Cuba. 

Q. And 3"our living with them and going among them was to observe 
their habits, views, and opinions. 

A. Yes; for that and nothing else. 

Q. I want to ask you to direct your attention to their views of 
ecclesiastical matters. At the time you were with them who was con- 
ducting the religious functions, if any, in the majority of cases? 

A. In Luzon, generally, the religious functions were conducted by 
the Filipino priests, but I think I can not say in the majority of cases, 
for in the Visayas, Mindanao, and Jolo there were no priests. 

Q. Did you talk with the people of their sentiments toward the 
parish priests under the Spanish regime? 

A. I did. 

Q. What did you find their feeling to be with respect to them? 

A. I think with one exception, which stands out because it is an 
exception, the people always declared themselves to be not in favor 
of having the friars back. 

Q. Did they state the reasons ? 

A. They told me lots of stories about the friars. 

Q. Were they the common people ? 

A. Yes; the very commonest people. All are very bitter, except 
one town of northern Luzon. They are very bitter, and I have always 
asked them as to this matter. 

Q. What grounds did they give for their hostility ? 

A. Mainly that the priest held them under, oppressed them, robbed 
them, and that they used their women and daughters just as they 
pleased. 

Q. Did they specify the methods of oppression? 

A. I can not remember distinct instances just now. 

Q. Did you hear of instances of deportation through the agency of 
the priest ? 

A. Yes; I have heard that nobody was allowed in certain sections to 
go away from the town without the permit of the friars, and that the 
friar often sent him away and they were under the thumb of the friar. 

Q. How did the friar rob them ? 

A. He robbed them in the vicinity of the railroads by forcing the 
people to sell their rice to him at the prices which the friar made, and 
not allowing the people to send their own products to the market. 

Q. Was there anything said about the fees which were charged for 
religious functions? 

A. Yes; I heard a great many complaints about that. They were 
usually made according to a man's station. The friar charged what he 
pleased, and if he said a certain sum was necessary, that sum had to be 
paid or he would not conduct the burials, etc. 

Q. What did you hear as to the morality of the priests ? 



CHURCH LANDS 1^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. l73 

A. Nothing that was good, with few exceptions. 

Q. Were you referred to instances where the illegitimate sons of 
the friars were known ? 

A. Yes; there was scarcely a town that I did not either see or hear 
of the children of friars. 

Q. Did you hear anything as to the moralit}" of the native priests? 

A. Yes. 

Q. Whatas to that? 

A. As a rule, that the}^ are not much better in regard to morality. 

Q. Could 3"ou not infer, therefore, that, had those acts of the friars 
which were subject to criticism been confined to immorality, it prob- 
abh^ would not have produced such a feeling ? 

A. No; I don't think it was wholly morality. 

Q. The people were used to that? 

A. The people did not object to it. I have had the people show me 
their white children and be proud of them. 

Q. Be more specific as to the number of towns you think you have 
visited in northern Luzon and in the Visayas. The number of provinces. 

A. For instance, in Luzon I have been in Uocos Sur, Bontoc, Lepanto, 
Benguet, La Union, Pangasinan, Tarlac, Zambales, Bataan, Pampanga, 
Bulacan, Cavite, Batangas, Tayabas, and Manila. 

Q. Were 3^ou in the Camarines ? 

A. Yes; in South Camarines, Albay, Laguna, and Batangas. 

Q. Now, the islands in which you have been ? 

A. Marinduque, Masbate, Panay, Cebu, Komblon, and the whole 
Sulu Archipelago. In every principal one, not in all the little ones. 

Q. Have 3'ou been in Mindanao? 

A. The fourteen ports of Mindanao. 

Q. Samar and Leyte? 

A. No. 

Q. As to Mindanao, I understand that only Jesuits are there ? Did 
you discover any distinction between the feeling toward the Jesuits 
and the other four orders, Dominicans, etc. ? 

A. The Visa3^ans, I am sure, don't feel so bitter toward the friars as 
the people north. I came into one town where the Jesuits had just 
been returned. The town was in charge of a young captain who did 
not take much interest in things, and the friars in the two weeks were 
running it to their own satisfaction. I talked with the presidente 
about schools. I found schools, school-teachers, benches in the schools, 
but no mone}" for the teachers, and the priests had advised the teachers 
not to teach until they were paid. The presidente quoted the friar 
about every two minutes during our conversation. 

Q. Did 3^ou discover a difference in the feeling toward the friars in 
the provinces where the friars own large haciendas ? 

A. No; it is just as bitter in Pangasinan, where they own nothing, 
and the people own small parcels of land. 

Q. But is the occasion for it a little different? Does it partake of 
an agrarian feeling in Cavite and Bulacan ? 

A. In Cavite and Bulacan, that ma}^ have something to do with it. 

Q. I ask the question to aid us in reaching a conclusion as to whether 
the purchase of the friar lands and the sale of them in small plats to 
the tenants would help matters generally — whether it would rid them 
of that which they regard as oppression now. Did you give much 
attention to that? 



174 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

A. Yes; I don't think it would make much difference. I don't think 
they consider that question. 

Q. You think the basis of their feeling is another ground? 

A. Yes; on other grounds. 

Q. Did you talk with them about public schools? 

A. Yes; I talked everywhere about schools, and all are anxious for 
them. 

Q. Do 3^ou think it would be possible to reconcile them to public 
schools without any religion being taught? 

A. Yes; I think it would be hard to reconcile them to anything else. 

Q. You know the Faribault plan, attributed to Archbishop Ireland, 
in which half an hour is given to any denomination that may wish to 
send religious teachers to talk to and instruct them with the consent of 
the parents. How do you think that would work? 

A. I think it would work badly, because if you allow an}^ priest of 
any denomination to go into the school.it would be looked upon b}^ the 
people as something the Government had forced upon them ; and if the 
priests were allowed to go back under any conditions, they would be 
able to influence the people and the pupils very largely, and I think it 
would hinder rather than help the civilization of these people. 

Q. You think these people are not so subject to the control of the 
ministers of the Catholic religion that they might be prevented from 
availing themselves of educational opportunities if they were offered 
without any religious teaching. Could not the priests, if they chose 
to exert such an influence, prevent their going to the public schools? 

A. If the friars were allowed to go back, they undoubtedly would. 

Q. But when Catholic priests go who were not friars, but who were 
anxious to support the Catholic religion and to conform to the views 
of their church, which looks with suspicion and hostility on nonsecta- 
rian influence, how would that be ? 

A. They could use a great deal of influence. 

Q. Suppose we could get the favor of the church, or avoid its hos- 
tility, were we to give a half an hour for religious instruction, you 
still think it would be better to decline ? 

A. I think it would be better not to allow them. I am neither one 
thing nor the other, personally, and am unprejudiced. 

Q. It is only a question of policy ? 

A. I am thinking simply of the idea of elevating this people. 

Expressions of thanks. 



OCTOBEK 19, 1900. 



MEMORANDUM OF CONFERENCE WITH CEFERINO JOVAN, 
ALCALDE OF BACOLOR, PROVINCE OF PAMPANGA. 

After referring to the conditions prevailing in the province of Pam- 
panga, and especially in the pueblo of Bacolor, from a political stand- 
point, several questions were addressed to the alcalde regarding the 
friar question in that portion of the island of Luzon. 

In reply to these questions, Senor Jovan stated that he had known a 
large number of friars living in concubinage with women, and a num- 
ber of children the fruit of such illicit relations. That the animosity 
against the friars extended throughout every strata of society down to 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. l75 

the very lowest, and was not confined b}" any means to the educated 
and hi^'her classes of society. That, so far as his own pueblo was con- 
cerned, a return of the friars to their parishes would not result in 
their occup^dng the influential positions they held under the Spanish 
regime, for the people were beginning to learn what the separation of 
church and state meant, and that he, as the head of the pueblo, would 
receive no orders from the friar should he endeavor to assert the 
authority he held under Spanish rule, and if he were to come with 
credentials from the archbishop or even the pope, he would set them 
at naught, if they (the ecclesiastical functionaries mentioned) tried to 
intermeddle in matters in which the}" had no concern. That he him- 
self was an ardent Catholic, and followed to the best of his abilit}" the 
teachings of Jesus Christ, whom he recognized as the head of the 
church and from whom he received his inspirations. That if the friars 
endeavored to intermeddle in matters temporal he would tell his peo- 
ple that under the American Constitution and laws no protection was 
vouchsafed to an}^ religion or sect other than the protection guaranteed 
every citizen; that the friars must live from voluntary contributions 
entirely, and that the faithful were free to attend church or not, as 
their own consciences might dictate. That the province of Pampanga 
had been one of the favored portions of the island, in that the friars 
owned no property there, and consequently did not subject their ten- 
ants to the grievous burdens laid upon them elsewhere. 



NOVEIMBER 6, 1900. 

INTERVIEW OF BRIG. GEN. R. P. HUGHES, U. S. V., COMMANDING 
HEADaUARTERS AT ILOILO, ISLAND OF PANAY. 

Q. You are a citizen of the United States and general officer in the 
Regular Army ? 

A. A colonel in the Regular Army and a general officer in the 
Volunteers. 

Q. How long have you been in the islands ? 

A. I have been in the islands about twentv-seven months. 

Q. You served as provost-marshal-general of Manila, did you not? 

A. Of Manila, yes, for nine months, when it was first occupied, 
from September 1, 1898, until June 1, 1899. 

Q. Where was 3^our service after that? 

A. I commanded in lloilo, originally as a district, now as a depart- 
ment, and have been there since — for about eighteen months. 

Q. And that carries ^^ou over other islands than Panay ? 

A. It includes now Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Negros, and Panay. 

Q. You have made it 5^our business to make yourself familiar with 
the conditions prevailing, have you not? 

A. Yes; I have to know the conditions. 

Q. Have you had occasion to investigate the attitude of the people 
toward the friars? 

A. I have made it my business to do it, looking to what course 
might be the most prudent if I were called upon for any advice in 
the matter, and in traveling over the different islands I have questioned 
a great many people as to the situation and the feeling on that subject, 



176 CHURCH LAIN-DS IN" PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

more especially in the islands that have been brought more nearly 
under subjection, looking to a settlement. Then it has come to me in 
other waA^s, where the presidentes get into trouble with the priests; 
that has come up in discussion, and I have reached a ver}^ decided 
opinion on the subject. 

Q. Suppose it was said to you, General, that the feeling with respect 
to the friars was confined to the three or four leading men in each 
town who for political reasons were prejudiced against the friars and 
who througfh the instrumentality of the Katipunan society or some 
other society prevented the friars from being received back, merely 
by a conspiracy, and that the mass of the people were anxious to have 
the friars returned. Would you say that was correct ? 

A. I should say it was absolutely erroneous. 

Q. What do 3^ou think is the attitude of the common people toward 
the return of the friars to their parishes ? 

A. So far as I know, the}^ are very strongly opposed to it. 

Q. And you would not confine the statement of that feeling to the 
men whom I have designated as the three or four leading men in each 
town ? 

A. I know it is not so. 

Q. Were you able to arrive at a conclusion satisfactory to yourself 
as to the cause of the feeling against the friars? 

A. I have been able to arrive at a conclusion as to some of the 
causes. Two of them seem to be cardinal points, as 1 understand the 
people in the Visayas: One is that they were very apt to corrupt 
the families of their parishioners; the other was that they were a 
very money-making lot. 

Q. What political power do j^ou understand from talking with the 
people that the friars exercise, if any? I mean actual power. 

A. I don't think that they had any, except as they could bring it to 
bear through their parishioners — but that among these people was 
very great. 

Q. Were the friars loyal to Spain, or otherwise? 

A. I think they were loyal to themselves. 

Q. And Spain was their instrument? 

A. That is it — Spain was the instrument. They worked for them- 
selves. 

Q. You have said that they corrupted the families. You refer to 
their immorality? 

A. Yes. 

Q. How much evidence have you had as to the immorality of the 
friars ? 

A. You always have to make wide margins in these things, but it 
was a very general complaint that they corrupted the daughters of 
families. It was very general. I think, so far as I know, there are but 
two friars down there. I have found but two; there may be others. 
I have been through the departments thoroughly. Those I made 
inquiries about especially. One is at Talesay, in Negros, a man whose 
life has been pure, and when they drove the others out he simply said 
he would not go, and he is there now, treated with the same respect 
and as free as ever. The other is in Culasi. He has married a native 
woman and has led an upright life, and is treated and honored as any 
man would be. 

Q. He violated his vows of celibacy ? 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 177 

A. Yes; but otherwise he has led a pure life. 

Q. He maintained himself faithful to the woman he married ? 

A. Yes; and he has a family. 

Q. Who are performing the religious functions through the Visayas 
now? 

A. Native priests, as a rule. There has latel}^ come a bishop to 
Iloilo; a Spaniard. 

Q. Bishop of Jaro? 

A. Yes. 

Q. And the bishop of Cebu returned? He is a popular man, is 
he not? 

A. Yes; but the bishop of Jaro was not received with any warm 
reception when he returned. 

Q. What do you think will be the result if the friars attempt to go 
back to their parishes ? 

A. Knowing the temper of the people, if they were to go back I 
should forbid their going to any town not occupied by American 
troops, for, being responsible for their lives, 1 would not allow it. 

Q. Does your jurisdiction reach down to the place where the Jesuits 
have had missions ? 

A. They have had missions in former days in Samar, Leyte, and 
Cebu, but I think they have all gone to Mindanao. I never have 
found any of their missions in our department, but I think there are 
several in Mindanao, for nine of the Jesuits came up to see me at 
Manila when the}^ were driven out of Negros. I received them all. 
The Jesuits have received a good deal of respect from the people. 

Q. Do you know much about the character of the native priests — 
first, as to their morality? 

A. Well, I have had to remove one or two because the congregation 
said they would not stand it, and to preserve peace I had them moved 
away. 

Q. What was the occasion of their indignation ? 

A. In some cases women, and in others drunkenness. 

Q. On the whole, do you think their tone is any better than that of 
the friars? 

A. To be plain. Judge, there is no moralit}^ in them, not a particle. 
They gamble in their convents; they send for members of their con- 
gregations to gamble with them. There is no morality. 

Q. They are generally strong insurgents, are they not? 

A. They are the soul of the insurgents. 

Q. Is there a motive — or what do you think of that — on their part 
to support the insurgents because they fear other priests will come in 
should the insurrection fail? 

A. I think it is one of self-interest purely. They have always had 
an income, and they know that under our system of government we 
are not going to provide for that, and I think it is purel}^ self-interest. 

Q. To go back again; I omitted to get through the causes of hostil- 
ity to the friars. I want to ask about their money-making tendency 
above referred to. How do you mean they made themselves obnoxious ? 

A. I have never gone into the details of it. The people have merely 
spoken of the desire of the priests to get rich, but I have never gone 
into the details of it. It is one of the charges made against them. 

Q. How far has the bishop of Jaro in his return to his diocese 

S. Doc. 190 12 



178 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

received the subordination and respect of the people — of the priests 
and parishioners'^ 

A. In lloilo, where he resides, there is quite a sprinkling of Span- 
iards and Spanish mestizos, etc., who were rather glad to see him, I 
think. After his return they petitioned us to vacate the convent in 
order that he might come, but outside of that class of people I don't 
think he received a welcome from anybody. The active bishop, the 
native priest, did not even call on him. He had to send for him. The 
ordinary people would not take off their hats to him when he landed. 
There was no respect of the natives shown at all. 

Q. That was a contrast to the reception of the bishop of Cebu, was 
it not ? 

A. Entirely. The bishop of Cebu was welcomed by the whole town. 

Q. Do you know the bishop? 

A. I never met the one at Cebu. 

Q. They regard him with reverence? 

A. Yes. He has done good work. The one in lloilo can not have 
any influence at all. I think any action of his would be resisted sim- 
ply because it came from him, if for no other cause. 

Q. Have you been putting into operation schools in your 
department ? 

A. We have schools I think probably in 99 per cent of the towns 
that we occupied. In lloilo we had quite a struggle to get a school. 
They had burned the town and we had no schoolhouses and no place 
to put them. I had a census of the town taken as to the school chil- 
dren of school age. I found that there were about 500 in taking this 
census. I had it taken by officers, so as to find out the facts. They 
inquired if the people would send their children voluntarily. They 
were usually asked if English would be taught, and when told it would 
be they stated they would go. We had to build a schoolhouse, and 
when that was finished we opened the school, I think on the 1st of 
September or the 1st of August. Of the 500 that were of school age, 
without making it compulsor}^ at all, they have now 438 in the school. 

Q. Have you encountered any trouble in your schools because you 
did not give religious instruction ? 

A. Not at all. 

Q. Any complaints among the priests ? 

A. We did not hear any, and the people have not shown any dispo- 
sition to keep their children away on that account, not a particle. It 
is purely voluntary. I wanted to try to find out how many of the 500 
would go and we have 438. I asked as to the shortage, and they said 
some were large enough to have to work. 

Q. Has the result been similar in Cebu? 

A. The school results in Cebu have not been satisfactory, mainly 
due to the fact, I think — I discussed it with the town council to find 
out what the matter was — and the main obstacle to the better condition 
of schools there is due to the fact that we can not get English teachers. 
I have tried and can not get them. 

Q. Have you talked with Atkinson? 

A. I have not met him. I tried at Cebu and lloilo. I wrote to 
people, and finally wrote a letter asking that I be allowed to send 200 
youngsters home to America and educate them and let them come back 
and go to teaching. 

Q. But, on the whole, you think that in the country we should 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 179 

encounter little difficulty in making popular English schools with no 
religion being taught? 

A. No difficulty at all. All we have to do is to open the schools and 
the children will go. To make a Visa^^an an Englishman is difficult. 
We will have to have English teachers. I had a good man at Iloilo, 
but he got a commission the other day and I had to hunt another. 
One-half of my troubles come from lack of being able to communi- 
cate to these people. 

Expressions of thanks. 



November 9, 1900. 

INTERVIEW WITH WILLIAM H. BECK, COLONEL FOUTY-NINTH 

INFANTRY. 

Q. Will you please state your name and office ? 

A. Col. William H. Beck, Forty-ninth Infantry, U. S. V., com- 
manding subdistrict of second district of northern Luzon, with head- 
quarters at Tuguegarao, province of Cagayan. 

Q. Does your district include all of the province of Cagayan ? 

A. Very nearly. The larger part of it. 

Q. You have been in the islands how long? 

A. Since the 2d of January, 1900. I have been at Tuguegarao 
since the 20th of March, 1900 — nine months. 

Q. Has it been part of your dut}^ as commander of the subdistrict 
to observe the customs and opinions of the people of all classes? 

A. Very IsLVgoly. 

Q. Have you had occasion to consider the views of the common 
people and their feeling toward the priests of the Catholic Church who 
were Spanish friars and who acted as parish priests in these islands 
before the revolution ? 

A. Yes. There was an order issued from the office of the military 
governor directing that information relative to the Philippine Islands 
be furnished. Some of the inquiries in the blank furnished in accord- 
ance with the order were relative to church property. In ascertain- 
ing to whom the churches and buildings pertaining to the friars actu- 
ally belonged, I inquired of the presidentes of the eight towns in my 
subdistrict, and others, who generally claimed that the buildings were 
upon property belonging to the people, and that the subscriptions of 
the money which the buildings cost to erect were taken from the 
people, in some cases by an arbitrary tax and in others by volun- 
tary subscriptions, but generall}" — in all cases I think in m}^ subdis- 
trict — they claimed that the buildings and property belonged to the 
people, and it is so regarded in the replies in the blank referred to. I 
might add that I found upon inquir}^ that almost all the Filipinos in 
that subdistrict objected to the friars and their methods, and that they 
do not desire them to return, saying that they have Filipino priests 
who suit them better and are as well educated and can educate their 
children quite as w«ll. 

Q. What do you say as to the feeling against the friars; is it bitter 
or not? 

A. It is very bitter. 



180 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Q. Do you think it would be safe for the friars to return to their 
parishes which they occupied in your province? 

A. That would largety depend upon the attitude of the United States 
troops there. There is no doubt that in some of the outlying districts 
of small pueblos the}^ might be in some danger, but in the larger towns, 
notably Tuguegarao, the fact that the Government of the United 
States permitted or indorsed their return would largely tend to their 
safety, as also the fact that prominent citizens, the presidente, the 
vice-presidente, chiefs of barrios have taken the oath of allegiance. 

Q. I suppose there is considerable difficulty in making the people 
understand the difference between allowing the friars to go back with- 
out indorsing their return and actually indorsing their return? 

A. It would be extremely difficult, for the reason that for hundreds 
of years they have recognized that the friars have been under the pro- 
tection of their Government, and although they have been assured that 
we have separated church and state, it still holds in their minds that 
that which is protected under our flag is indorsed by us. 

Q. Are there any friars in your subdistrict? 

A. They have all disappeared. The padres are all Filipinos. The 
Spanish priests have left. 

Q. You are not prejudiced one way or the other in the matter are 
you? 

A. I have no prejudice, and from the fact that my wife is a Roman- 
ist I am quite tolerant and have many priests for friends. 

Q. What would be the effect if the church were to send American 
priests to the islands, not to take the place of the native padres, but 
to work with them and where they have none? 

A. I think if the heads of the Philippine church — that is, the priests, 
such as the archbishops of provinces, etc., could be induced to indorse 
that plan it would be largely beneficial, but the difficulty comes in 
from the fact that the present chief padre of the province is a man 
who has relatives who have been in local positions as presidente of the 
pueblos * * * the sudden separation of church and state, as he 
regards it, might induce him to look upon it with a favored eye, 
but from my knowledge of him he controls all the province of the val- 
ley of the Cagayan, including Isabela. If the chief here, whom I pre- 
sume is the archbishop, could be induced to indorse that plan he would 
render all assistance. He would have taken the oath of allegiance and 
told me so, but he would like the authority of the archbishop. I 
transmitted for him a request asking the permission of the archbishop, 
but it was never replied to by the archbishop. This priest is past 70 
years of age now.- I believe he is one of the best of men. His name 
is Guzman. 

Expression of thanks. 



EVIDENCE OF FLORENTINO TORRES, ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF 
THE ISLANDS UNDER THE MILITARY GOVERNMENT OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 

ANSWEKS TO THE INTEEKOGATORIES. 

1. I have been living in these islands ever since I was born in this 
capital of Manila. 

2. I have resided the greater part of my life in Manila, although I 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 181 

lived about seven months in Bigan, capital of Ilocos Sur; about two 
years in Bacolor, provincial seat of Papanga, and six years and some 
months in the city of Cebu, capital of the island of the same name. 

3. I have had occasion to personally observe during my residence in 
this capital, and in the seats of the three provinces mentioned in 
Luzon, and the Yisayas, prior to the year 1896, the kind and character 
of the religious, social, and political relations which existed between 
the friars and the people of the parishes under them. 

As regards the religious relation, saving a few exceptions, where 
sincerity and good faith were noted in the conduct of certain friar 
curates in the matter of teaching the rudiments of the Catholic reli- 
gion, and everything relating to worship and its rites, the large 
majority discharged their ministry according to monastic traditions in 
a routine way, tending to the ends of the order, and, taking no care to 
make clear the foundation and essence of the Catholic dogma and 
beliefs, they endeavored only to effect external manifestations, such as 
processions and church ceremonies, with the constant view of adding 
to their profits through parochial fees, of influencing and dominating 
the minds of the faithful and believers and of always favoring their 
personal interests, and those of the community to which they belonged, 
exploiting the piety and fanaticism of the pueblos in the name of 
heaven and to the positive benefit of the friar. It is not the spread of 
the faith nor the salvation of souls which were as a general rule the 
object pursued, but rather the preponderance and the predominance 
of the monastic corporations, and the incessant accumulation of con- 
siderable wealth, improving religion and their capacity as ministers of 
God as the sure means to realize, through multiple and diverse means, 
the decided purposes of the communities. 

The meager education of many of the Filipino priests is due to the 
devices of the friars, since the latter, in order to possess themselves of 
the best curacies or parishes, adopted fifty years ago the systematic 
plan of the seminaries rendering difficult the entry of aspirants, restrict- 
ing instruction and sending out few in number and capacity, while 
the best priests who followed them were persecuted and slandered in 
order that they might assert before the world, as the delegate of the 
Pope has, that there are not priests enough in number, and of those 
there are few fitted to be parish priests, and all with the diabolical and 
Pharisaical intention of being able to say that the friars are necessary 
in this unhappy country to uphold Catholicism. They lie with the 
effrontery of always, and are and will be responsible before God and 
history for every injury the Catholic Church may suffer. 

The artlessness and deficient culture of a great part of the inhabi- 
tants of this archipelago are circumstances of which the friars have 
taken advantage, for, as is known, they take care to have it always 
believed that they can hurl excommunications and command the ter- 
rible punishments of heaven, with the power to cast the disobedient 
into the uttermost depths of hell. 

As a general rule charity and love of the neighbor have disap- 
peared, save in the rarest cases, and when the name of God is invoked 
before the multitudes He is represented not as the just and merciful 
God, but as the vengeful and exterminating, giving the believers to 
understand that unless the}^ submitted themselves w^holly to the will 
and caprice of the friar curate their souls after death would not enter 
into heaven. 

The social relations which the friars have maintained with the Fill- 



182 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

pinos are the most injurious, and opposed to culture and the moral and 
material progress of the latter. Ministers of a religion whose founder 
proclaimed charity to the limits of sacrifice and equality among men 
nave preached the contrary and sustained by their works the inequal- 
ity and difference between races, impeding and ridiculing every notion 
or idea of dignity conceived by a Filipino. They have endeavored to 
keep the Filipinos in ignorance, opposing, wherever they could bring 
their pressure to bear, the teaching of the Spanish language by primary 
school-teachers. They have condemned in their preachings and private 
conversation every desire for culture and civilization, antagonizing the 
best purposes of the Madrid Government or of that of these islands, 
as well in the faint and meager reforms in behalf of the progress and 
education of the Filipinos as in the economical measures which to a 
certain extent affect the interests of the corporations, although they 
may redound to the great benefit of the people; and having arrogated 
to themselves the title of mentors and directors of this society, instead 
of teaching the Filipinos cultured social behavior becoming to civilized 
men, they educated and formed them morally with that narrow char- 
acter, little frank and distrustful, which is noticeable in the generality 
of the people, especially in the more ignorant, making them stubborn 
and suspicious of intercourse and relations with foreigners. It can be 
asserted without exaggeration that the friars have been and are a fatal 
hindrance to the advancement, moral and material, of this country, 
from the very fact that they have devoted themselves to keeping this 
society in ignorance, as though it lived in the middle ages or in the 
mediaeval epoch of remote centuries; and lastly, as priests and cu- 
rates the majority of them were living examples of immorality, of 
disorder in the towns, and of disobedience and resistance to the con- 
stituted powers and the authorities, encouraged by the impunity 
guaranteed in the anachronistic ecclesiastical jurisdiction, by the weak- 
ness of the governors and officials vitiated with fetichism and hypoc- 
risy, and by the irresistible omnipotence of each monachal corporation, 
possessing immense wealth. The curate friars were agents and repre- 
sentatives of a powerful theocratic feudalism, which has been ruling 
this country for many centuries back without any sign of responsibil- 
ity of any kind through civil and military officials appointed by the 
Spanish Government with the more or less direct intervention of the 
commissary friars residing in the capital of Spain. And as the Cath- 
olic Church in these islands was and still is completely monopolized 
and dominated by them, and to that end they secured from the com- 
plaisant and suicidal Governments of Madrid and from the deceived 
Roman curia that the majority of archbishops and bishops of this 
country should be always friars, and in this centur}^, or at least dur- 
ing the past forty years, the friar succeeded in monopolizing absolutely 
the miter to the extent that the priests were wholly excluded from the 
bishoprics, including Peninsular priests, despite the exalted Spanish 
patriotism which the friars preach. From all these antecedents it is 
very easily deduced what were the political relations existing between 
the friars and the Filipinos. 

Incrustated and coexistant with the Spanish sovereignty was to be 
found the monachal sovereignt}", and hence the friar archbishop and 
bishops intervened in the government of the country in general and 
in turn the friar curates did the same in the administration of the 
provinces and pueblos, since the first-named formed an official part of 



CHIJECH LA:N^DS in PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 183 

the superior junta of authorities and the latter of the provincial and 
and municipal junta, the friar curates constituting themselves into 
mentors and inspirers of the local authorities, without, however, con- 
tracting responsibilities. For all of which reasons it is patent that 
the political relations between the friars and the Filipinos had to exist 
by reason of the strength, omnipotence, and predominance of the for- 
mer feudal lords and the obedience and submission, bordering on 
slavery, of the latter, thanks to the complicit}^ or impotence of the 
Government officials. 

There were undoubtedly praiseworthy exceptions, for amid so much 
laxity some made themselves known as, and there are to-day, friars 
honest, humble, and full of knowledge and virtue, and are truly reli- 
gious; but the exceptional qualities of these few men only brought out 
more prominently the antisocial and impolite demeanor of the majority 
as prejudicial to Catholicism. 

It was asserted as a positive fact during the late regime that the dis- 
content and hatred for the friars existed only among the rich and 
enlightened Filipinos and the mestizo race, and that the great majority 
of the natives of less culture, especially the country people and the great 
mass of the settlements with slight social education, were decidedly 
favorable to the friar; but when the revolution broke out in August, 
1896, the bandage, growing progressively denser, which covered the 
eyes of the Spanish governors and statesmen fell, and studious and 
thinking men of all races were convinced that this representation, 
believed like an article of faith because it was guaranteed by the 
friars, the only ones — according to their affiliates — who knew this 
country, was nothing more than a stroke of monkish rhetoric and an 
antipatriotic artifice to prop up and sustain the monachal interests and 
the conventionalism wrought between the deceivers and the deceived, 
for then they all saw that those who discharged guns, handled bolos, 
and managed lances and even cannon, were not the rich, the enlight- 
ened, and the mestizillos, as the most reverend apostolic delegate 
repeated a few days since in the argument in the San Jose College 
case, echoing the friar with whom he has identified himself with 
admirable promptness in all and for all, but rather that mass of poor 
and little-enlightened natives in much their greater part, who impress a 
socialistic character on the revolution, essentially political, the while 
they showed tenacious eagerness in retaining the Spanish friars, 
soldiers, and civilians who fell into their hands, they took possession 
of the haciendas of the friars for purposes of recovery despite the 
conciliatory and prudent advice of the enlightened and of the mestizos. 

Nearly all, if not all, of the inhabitants of the island, at least of the 
present generation, bear hatred and resentment against the friars and 
are prepared against returning to their infamous yoke, some for per- 
sonal injuries received, and the rest, even the indifierent and the 
descendants of the very friars, injured in their dignit}^ and manly 
amour prop, find themselves more or less convinced that it would not 
be possible to live with dignity, prudent liberty, and legal guarant}^ 
for the human personality or hope for progress and prosper it}^ in this 
country while the friars govern or can have influence over those who 
govern in order to continue their gloomy policy against the Filipinos. 
The very few Filipinos who have shown themselves favorable to the 
friars, and who do not apparently feel these moral moods, some 
through religious fanaticism and others through natural bonds, by 



184 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

reason of the interests which united them or through gratitude in 
exchange for important favors or benefits received. 

4. I knew and treated with many friars of the several communities 
existing in these islands in the capital as well as in the provinces. 

5. The personnel of the orders, as a general rule, was composed of 
men from the common classes of the Peninsula; those from the rich 
and cultured class were few. But during their convent life and the 
exercise of the parochial ministry they succeeded in improving and 
bettering their knowledge; many acquired social experience and polish, 
and some have become notable in the arts and sciences, the Augustin- 
ian and Dominican friars distinguishing themselves in this, especially 
with regard to the cleanliness and pulchritude with which they 
appeared in society, and the former in the cleanly conditions of their 
rooms. 

6. The friars had the immense tracts of land they possessed devoted 
to agriculture through tenants or on shares, utilizing them for the rais- 
ing of rice and sugar cane in order to get profits out of the lands, and 
the city real estate in this capital was rented or leased. In many 
pueblos of some of the provinces of Luzon the friar curates advanced 
money on the sugar and rice crops, which staples they then sold to 
whoever offered the best price. There have also been cases where 
they have loaned money on articles of value, especially to those who 
had families in the pueblos. The lay friars, who managed the great 
monastic plantations, received the rental or tax of the lands leased 
to the tenants in kind — that is, in rice or sugar, which they stored in 
the warehouses and then sold on account of the corporation. 

7. The friars more or less intervened directly in the elections of the 
former and modern municipal ofl[icers. Their intervention and '' O. K." 
were indispensable on all the reports which the governor and other 
authorities required of the former gobernadorcillos of the pueblos. 
Their personal report, verbal or written, made in a sense contrary to 
the report of the council of headmen and gobernadorcillos, was the 
general rule, and in the majority of cases it prevailed over the latter and 
was followed by the authorities, because of the fact that the informant 
was a friar. That in view of this great paramountcy which jointly 
and almost unanimously the government and civil and military employ- 
ees accorded to the friars, the gobernadorcillos, and other municipal 
officers of lower grade, to the end that they might always count upon 
the support of so important a personage, who could open and close 
the doors of Heaven, and who enjoyed near the authorities and func- 
tionaries of all grades and categories of decided and never-disputed 
influence, because behind the friar curate was the convent corporation, 
which, as has been seen always, whenever ic was to the interest of the 
monastic order, accomplished the transfer or change of residence, the 
suspension or removal of any officer, civil or military, from the simple 
copyist or soldier to the captain-general of the islands, as can be shown 
by many civil and military employees — among them the governors- 
general of these islands, Senores Despujols and Blanco — the said local 
authorities took no step, obeyed no superior orders, and did not per- 
form the duties of their office without previous advice, permission, or 
knowledge of the friar curate, since the protection of the latter suf- 
ficed at times to defy the anger of the governor of the province and 
paralyze or evade the action of justice. And, in order to shorten and 
close, I shall only make mention of the most important matters, that is, 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 185 

questions of treason or filibusterism, which has been the cause of so much 
bloodshed and of the committing of innumerable and incredible outrages 
and iniquities, thanks to the Spanish jingoistic patriotism, the friars occu- 
pying a preeminent place in the system of accusations, who arrogated 
to themselves the right to issue certificates of "Spanishism" or fili- 
busterism in such a way that the most worthy and upright man who 
should merit the characterization of filibuster was lost and became the 
object of all manner of governmental actions, of military proceedings, 
and of the cruelest outrages and vexations, because against him who , 
was accused of being a filibuster all manner of ill treatment, imprison- 
ment, deportation, and even assassination was permitted. And the 
protection or good report of a friar sufficed for the most perverse and 
immoral resident to be considered the most ardent supporter of the 
Spanish cause and secure the best positions or the place of a local 
authority, even though he were the enemy of Spain to the very mar- 
row of his bones. 

The foregoing facts are most certain and absolute!}^ true, and I do 
not doubt that they will be confirmed by all Filipinos and individuals 
of other races who want to tell the truth and be rigidly impartial. 

These are the reasons and the true causes for the hate, the suspicions, 
and the marked animosity the Filipinos entertain with respect to the 
return of the friars to the pueblos, because, despite the complete sep- 
aration of the church and state, and of the absolute liberty of con- 
science, as well as the promises of some friars that in the curacies they 
may now return to direct they will no longer act as they did during 
the past Spanish regime, and the suggestions in the same sense of the 
most reverend apostolic delegate, the Filipinos of this generation, 
with their wounds still recent, not having yet forgotten the iniquities 
and infamies of which they have been the victims, if not all, many of 
them (there still being in this land numbers of their cassocked execu- 
tioners) retain a well-founded and most justifiable fear that if the friars 
return to the parishes they would repeat their former conduct, from 
the very fact that they have not changed and continue to be despots, 
revengeful even beyond the tomb, haughty and domineering, char- 
acteristics they have ever had here, following the monachal spirit, and 
now more so with the decided support of the apostolic delegate. 

8. The answer to this question has already been given in the 
responses to the third and fourth of these interrogatories. The rela- 
tions between the heads of the Spanish Government and of the church 
in this country were ordinarily cordial and afi'ectionate, but always 
interested, and hence the friars, masters of the situation, succeeded in 
realizing their purposes to the prejudice mostty of the country and its 
inhabitants. But when these relations changed and became strained 
or were ruptured, then the struggle arose in which the head of the 
government or the public official always lost because there was not a 
monachal community behind the latter to support them. Thus it is 
that the Filipino, seeing the frequent outcome of such contests in 
which the official of the insular government alwa3^s lost because of the 
complacency of the Madrid Government, and that the triumphant 
friar was customarily rewarded with the best curacy or with a miter — 
as was the case with the friar, now bishop, Jose Hevia, for always 
having fought with the civil governor of Manila, Seiior Centeno, when 
the former was a friar — ended by becoming convinced that if the Span- 
ish Government was to be always firmly bound and continuously linked 



186 CHUECH LAIRDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

in matters of government and administration of this country with the 
monastic community, the only remedy to free himself from so grave 
and chronic an evil would be separation and emancipation from the 
mother country, since the Spanish Government could not free itself — 
through national idiosyncrasy — of so damaging a ballast, that is, the 
friar element, w^hich came to be the upas tree that parches and dries 
up everything in this unhappy land. It was a vulgar saying or apo- 
thegm which was repeated among the natives here in the bosom of the 
familj^ and never given the lie in reality that at the end of the fights 
that arose between the friars and the Spanish authorities or officials, 
the latter disappeared from the scene and were replaced by others 
who generally upheld neither the spirit nor the purposes of their pred- 
ecessors, while the friar remains at his post or goes to another better 
one with greater power to fight, and another friar who replaced him 
in the post he had left carried on the same system and spirit of his 
predecessor, and both were always supported by the community. For 
this reason the Filipino, if he could not remain neutral in such strug- 
gles, took the part of the friar as more profitable to his interests and 
in order to avoid the revenge of the friar and his brethren, so long as 
the governor or official who was contesting could not defend him 
efficaciously and permanently. 

The poor and defenseless school-teachers of both sexes, planted 
between the government which requires of them the teaching of Span- 
ish, and the friar-curates, opposed thereto in their majority, obeyed 
the latter, in order to be free from their revenges and persecutions, 
noting the impotence of the Spanish Government, which was under 
the necessity of declaring those who opposed the teaching of Spanish 
antipatriotic, and all in vain and fruitless, for the friars were more 
powerful. 

9. There is a general schedule showing the fees the parish priests 
could charge for marriages, burials, and baptisms, which schedule was 
established, as is well known, by the best of the metropolitan arch- 
bishops ever in Manila, the most illustrious Seiior Don Basilio Sancho 
de Santa Justa y Rufina, a secular priest; but this printed schedule, 
which it was ordered should be in public view, was never seen or known 
in the majority of the parishes, and in many of them fees were charged 
at the caprice and at the will of the parish priests and their agents, 
who exercised considerable influence under the shadow of the friar- 
curate. 

The more or less heavy fees that were charged for the solemnization 
of marriages, the want of zeal in the parish priests, and other causes 
of social moral character, as well as ceremonies at times unnecessary, 
were the reasons for unwillingness to contract matrimony. 

10. With respect to the morality of the parish friars, the conduct of 
the majority left much to be desired, and in each town and locality the 
manner of living of the curate-friar was publicly known and talked of; 
for if there are any leading an exemplary life, of constant and crude 
virtue, and of irreproachable conduct, there were others to a fair number 
who were designated by public opinion as living examples of scandalous 
abuses, vice, and corruption. Gaming, concubinage, and orgies, or loose 
diversions in company with persons of the other sex, were well known 
to parish priests, especially in the provinces and in pueblos somewhat 
removed from the residences of the bishops. Jn many pueblos the 
concubine and children of the friars were publicly known and pointed 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 187 

out, and the colleges existing in this capital used to be, and still are, 
filled with youths of both sexes whose features reveal their origin and 
birth. 

11. I believe that the principal cause of the hostility of this country 
to the friars was the interference of the latter in the administration, 
and especially in politics, by constituting themselves as police agents, 
denouncers of political offenses, and as the advisers and impelling force 
of the Government agents and officials, wherefor there were attributed 
to them the outrages, deportations, ill-treatment, and crimes executed 
against the persons of those denounced. The hostility against the 
communities or corporations whose individual members served as parish 
priests was and is very general and almost unanimous, an animosity 
which up to this time is not noticeable with respect to the Jesuits, the 
Paulists, and the Benedictines, notwithstanding the intolerance of all 
of them, and especiall}^ of the first named, and the knowledge of the 
Filipino people that they all made common cause with the friars, and 
it is true that they could not place themselves before the latter. 

12. It has always been the unanimous public sentiment in the archi- 
pelago that the greater proportion of the deportations, ill-treatment, 
and outrages suffered hj some residents, parishioners of the parish 
served by friar-curates, was due to the scheming and maneuvers of 
the latter, for although it is not possible to prove by trustworthy 
means or documents that a curate-friar was the cause of an outrage or 
a deportation, because the friar was not accustomed to issue signed 
documents in such undertakings, and did not choose the moment when 
eyewitnesses were present to get the ear of some Government official 
or employee. Notwithstanding this, public opinion customarily attrib- 
uted the fact to the friar when there had occurred no action which 
could determine the deportation or outrage, save the prejudice of the 
friar or ill-feeling existing between him and the victim. When the friar, 
in order to make himself more feared in the localities, would pride 
himself upon being the author of the fact, or when the friar was the 
only one who got any profit or advantage out of the absence of the 
father or the husband of the house, which the friar usually frequented 
to offer to the fatherless and husbandless family support and protec- 
tion ; but without interesting himself efficiently in the return or libera- 
tion of the absent one, and when despite the secret and reserved record 
made up b}^ the governor, the rumor was extant to the effect that the 
said governor, or some employee of the Government, had adopted the 
measures against this or that person on the complaint of the friar- 
curate. No specific cases occurring in any given localit}" are cited in 
this answer because they are innumerable, and have been known for 
centuries; but the confidence is entertained that the assertions made in 
these answers would be wholh^ confirmed b}^ any Filipino or resident 
who would impartial!}^ tell the truth. 

The detective work of the friar curates and their false accusations 
and slanders sent many and an innumerable number of the peacefully 
inclined to the revolutionar}^ ranks, because between the horrible pun- 
ishments and outrages which produced death slowly and death in the 
open field, many preferred the latter. The greater part of the well- 
to-do and cultured people of the provinces and man}^ from this capital 
embraced the cause of the rebellion, forced thereto by the persecutions 
and false accusations made b}^ many jingoistic Spanish patriots and 
the friars, rather than of their own notion, and also because of the 



188 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

outrages, ferocious punishments, and most severe penalties imposed 
on persons that the people believed to be innocent. 

The animosity and prejudice entertained by the friars against the 
cultured and wealthy Filipinos were due to the fact that the latter, 
despite the risk they ran, were accustomed to discuss and censure pub- 
licly the immoral, domineering, and prejudicial conduct of the friars 
with irrefutable proofs, which the ignorant poor and their country folk, 
who barely made bold to comment upon it in the privacy of their 
homes, were not wont to do; so that the explosion of 1896 was more 
terrible among the latter. 

13. The morality of the native priests is more or less on a par with 
that of the friars, their directors and masters, but out of regard for 
truth it may be said that as a general rule the pupils did not need their 
teachers in immoral practices and conduct, for the priests, being con- 
vinced that they would be upheld by no corporation and that they 
would never enjoy immunity in their abuses and faults, as did their 
teachers, for fear of the punishment and the scorn of their fellow- 
citizens took greater care and endeavored to create fewer scandals, 
so when they took to themselves a concubine and had children they 
did not seek ostentation or publicity, as did many of the friars. 

Itt. The education and preparatory instruction of the Filipino 
youths who aspired to the priesthood have been very deficient and 
limited for some forty years past, almost ever since the Paulist Fathers 
assumed charge of the seminaries. Previous to this they were under 
the charge of Spanish and native priests, and under their direction 
the seminaries, especially that of this capital, furnished priests full 
of knowledge and virtue, who did much honor to the Philippine church, 
and the names of many of them rightfully figure in the chronicles of 
this country. 

The decadence of the native clergy is not old; it is recent, and dates 
from about the second half of this century, or since the seminaries 
came under the management of the Spanish Paulist Fathers, who, 
contrary to all charity and justice, became consciously or unconsciously 
the instruments of the friars to carry into efi'ect the diabolical system 
or plan of diminishing the number and quality of the Filipino clergy, 
restricting their instruction to the end that they might become pos- 
sessed of nearly all the curacies or parishes, for — as the friars have 
been preaching and the most reverend apostolic delegate now believes 
through them — the priests were and are few and unqualified to preside 
over parishes, and the latter had necessarily to come into the hands of 
the friars. 

Thus did the friars purpose becoming possessed of the parishes, all 
presided over by priests, ofiicially and in private conversations dis- 
crediting them and proclaiming their want of capacity; but intent 
only on accumulating landed estates and great wealth they did not 
count upon God, just and omnipotent, for the revolution of the year 
1896 providentially broke out, and ambition burst the sack, and as a 
result they lost their parishes forever, including those they already 
had originally. 

If the native Filipino is capable of the most cultured education and 
instruction for the acquirement of all knowledge in the arts and 
sciences, can he be denied justifiably, as the friars interestedly deny 
him, aptitude for receiving canonico -religious instruction, preparatory 
and tending to the exercise of priesthood and parochial ministry? 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 189 

Undoubtedly not; for to assert the contrary would be an absurd con- 
tradiction. If the Filipinos of to-day are more or less civilized and 
cultured, and possess the capacity to advance and rule their own desti- 
nies with more or less skill, they can also, now or later, aspire to the 
priesthood of their religion in their own country, just because it is not 
pleasant to them to have foreign friars continuing to exercise pre- 
dominance and tutelage over them under the pretext of religion in 
order to continue exploiting the faith and beliefs of this people. 

Let the seminaries, especially that of this capital, be opened and 
reorganized, and place at the head thereof American and Filipino 
priests, or aliens who do not belong to any monastic corporation, and 
from to-day the assurance may be had that at the end of four or six 
3^ears there will be priests ready to discharge their sacerdotal duties 
and belie the infamous friarage calumny directed against a whole race. 
If the worth}^ delegate, separating himself from the friars, should 
undertake so charitable and good a work as opening and reorganizing 
the seminaries, and in the first place that of this capital, he will have 
done his duty as a representative of the Pope, done a great good to the 
Filipino church and merited the gratitude of the great people of the 
United States, by having contributed to honoring their liberal and 
humanitarian purposes in this country. 

15. The return of the friars to their former parishes, in view of the 
resistance to admitting them on the part of the great majority of the 
pueblos of Luzon and Visa3^as, is a concrete political problem, as well 
as religious, put before the Filipino country and the Government of 
the United States. 

It is difficult and venturesome for the friars to return to their par- 
ishes by themselves, without the aid of the authorities and armed 
forces, for, in view of the very general and almost unanimous senti- 
ment of the Filipinos, only brute force can return the friars to their 
parishes; and, if despite the abnormal status, still unsettled, in which 
the country finds itself, the pueblos were compelled by the Govern- 
ment to receive friar curates, it is to be feared that such a measure, 
notoriously absurd and beyond belief that it will be adopted by a truly 
liberal and democratic government, would be another cause for dis- 
turbance, which would retard the return of peace, it being impossible 
to predict what the personal fate of the friar curates, in the midst of 
pueblos that hate and reject them for serious and justifiable causes, 
would be. 

Moreover, it is not to be expected that the American Government 
will sacrifice the fundamental and political principles of the people of 
the United States and the rights and liberties of the Filipino people, 
in order to favor foreign friars who afford no positive benefit to their 
own country of origin, while they prejudice the native clergy. 

16. An American archbishop should come at once to these islands, 
so that with a spirit of impartialit}^, of uprightness, of justice, and, 
above all, of charity, he may govern the Philippine church, liberating 
her in fact and wholly from the prejudicial influence of the friars, who 
are aliens on this soil, and afford charitable protection to the poor and 
defenseless Filipino clergy, who are in great need of it in a country 
in open revolution, upset morally and materially. 

I do not now endeavor to excuse faults and mistakes committed by 
some Filipino priests; but in order to appreciate and rightly and impar- 
tially judge the political conduct of the same with respect to the Amer- 



190 CHURCH LA.NDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

ican Government, it is strictl}^ just to bear in mind that the Filipino 
priests are natives of the country, and have more or less the same 
aspiration, sound or mistaken, as the generality of its inhabitants, and 
are intimatel}^ bound to them by ties of relationship, sympathy, and 
many other moral or social reasons, and it is not at all strange that 
some of them should support the cause of the revolutionists. 

The strange and surprising fact is that these should be only a few, 
very few, and that the greater part, the large majority of the Filipino 
priests, have either wholly abstained from politics, keeping aloof from 
the revolutionists, or have accepted and unconditionally adhered to 
American laws and sovereignty, at the great personal risk of those 
residing in distant pueblos, and this despite the total and studied aban- 
donment in which the archbishop and bishops gathered in this capital 
left them. 

The most illustrious Archbishop Nozaleda, who, prior to the arrival 
of the American army on these islands, was pleased to issue his cele- 
brated bellicose pastoral, or rather defamatory libel, published by the 
periodical press, inciting the clergy and inhabitants of the coun- 
try against the North Americans — who, according to the famous 
allocution, would commit savage deeds, violating and desecrating tem- 
ples, trampling upon graves, and insulting peaceful people, etc. — did 
not address to the Filipino clergy who took charge of the parishes 
any pastoral letter giving them advice and rules of conduct, religious, 
civil, and political, and they well needed them in the midst of the 
great disturbance in which they lived, but he enveloped himself in 
mutinous and studied silence, totall}^ abandoning to their fate, at 
least in religious matters, the Filipino people and clergy, so assaulted 
and defamed, doubtless with the little charitable purpose of its erring 
in its actions, conducting itself improperly, and losing itself com- 
pletely in the whirlwind of the struggle between the Americans and 
the Filipinos, in order that the return of the friars to their parishes 
might soon iDecome necessary. A like course was pursued by the 
bishops of Ilocos Sur and Jaro, and, sad it is to have to say it, they 
were imitated in this by the most reverend apostolic delegate, who 
could now raise his voice, were he actuated by sincerity, sending 
salutary counsels and inciting zeal in the performance of duty on the 
part of the Filipino clergy, to the benefit of the church and of Catho- 
lic beliefs. Let an archbishop come at once, filled with an American 
Catholic spirit, who does not belong to any monastic corporation, who 
shall know how to free himself and become independent of the influ- 
ence of the friars, and whose purpose it shall be to govern the Philip- 
pine church pursuant to American and Filipino interests, to the 
exclusion of alien interests; reestablish ecclesiastical discipline, and 
treat the Filipino clergy with impartialty, kindness, and justice; and 
it will soon be seen that it is a clergy obedient, deeply Catholic, docile, 
and susceptible of every manner of improvement in the performance 
of its ministry, for up to this time its members have been treated 
always by their superiors and bishops as pariahs, inferior beings, and 
slaves. 

17. It is traditional in this archipelago to associate the teaching of 
religion with primary and secondary public instruction, these having 
been governed and directed by the corporation clergy, and for this 
reason, so as not to radically break off this tradition, it will not be 
too much to permit religious instruction in the schools of the pupils, 
if not daily, two or three times at least per week, in the judgment of 



CHUECH LANDS IT^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 191 

the parish priest, who should agree in the premises with the school 
teacher or the head of the institution, without prejudice to what may 
be at the proper time determined by the assembly or body of repre- 
sentatives of the country that may be legally established for the 
judicious determination of the latter in accordance with the will of the 
great majority of the Filipinos. 

18. The problem of the present and the future in the questions con- 
cerning worship and the Catholic clergy of the immense majority of 
the inhabitants of the Philippines, is for the clerg}^, and especially the 
parish curates, to live and exercise their functions and parochial min- 
istry entirely independent of politics and public administration; for 
them to adjust their conduct to the doctrine and rules of the Catholic 
Church, and especially to those proclaimed by His Holiness Pope Leo- 
XIII, respecting constituted governments and authorities; to abstain 
from taking part in political questions, or in the public opinions of the 
militad parties existing in the country, and to intermingle and live 
with their neighbors in such a way that if the latter believe in the 
necessity of having in their pueblo ministers of their faith and beliefs 
the latter should at the same time be convinced of the necessity of 
maintaining harmony and good relations within the limits allowed by 
the ecclesiastical laws with their parishioners, since the latter are the 
ones called upon to provide them with proper sustenance, and since 
in the system of absolute separation of church and state and complete 
liberty of conscience the old theocratic predominance, which the par- 
ish priests arrogated to themselves by constituting themselves into the 
feudal lords of their parishioners, can not exist. 

19. The socialistic character of the revolution of 1896, maintained 
up to date against the American sovereignty, is a patent and positive 
fact, for although the rebellion was promoted morally through the 
propaganda of the middle class of certain towns in the center of Luzon, 
where it found decided support and has since then up to date relied on 
arms to materially sustain the struggle with the agents of authority, 
was among the plebeians or the laboring people that worked and labored 
in the fields and towns, and this socialistic character is due in part to- 
the existence and manner of being of many haciendas belonging to the 
religious communities of these islands, for reasons which require 
special study; hence it was that the first acts of the revolutionists upon 
the outbreak of the rebellion to the north as well as to the south of the 
center of Luzon was to take possession of the haciendas and proper- 
ties of the friars, wherefore, in order to put an end to the evil noted, 
the expropriation of all the estates and properties of the friars would 
be a highly political move, of economico-social transcendency, and of 
good future results, and all the more worthy if the proceeds of the sale 
in small lots of the monastic properties were devoted to the encourage- 
ment of public instruction of the inhabitants of this country, as sug- 
gested in the question. 

Even though the amounts used for the purchase of the estates expro- 
priated from the friars were to be soon reimbursed from Philippine 
funds, it would be a great economical solution, as well as a political- 
social solution, leading to peace to expropriate the real estate of such 
hated corporations, a measure which should be adopted with all expe- 
dition, in order to secure normal conditions to the benefit of this dis- 
turbed country. 

Floekntino ToeeeSv 

Manila, October SI, 1900. 



192 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

JOS^ ROS. 

[Translation.] 

To the American Civil CoTnmission: 

Being apprised of the interrogatories published by the newspapers 
of this capital, and in the hypothesis that the said document emanates 
from the commission, as is asserted, I have the honor to transmit to it, 
in compliance with the duty of a Filipino patriot, the following answers 
to the points embraced by the said interrogatories: 

1 and 2. A son of the Philippines, and having always lived in these 
islands up to the present time (and I am now 54 years of age); I have 
resided almost constantly in my native pueblo, Bagayan de Misanis, in 
Mindanao. I am acquainted with the provinces of Manila and Cebu 
by reason of having resided some time in their capitals and by making 
frequent trips thereto. I am also somewhat acquainted with the prov- 
inces of Surigao in Mindanao, Iloilo, Leyte, and Samar in Visayas, and 
Laguna and Tayabas in this province of Luzon, having been in some 
of the towns thereof while making trips. 

Being anxious to secure some rest for my body and spirit, and with 
the decided purpose to take no active part in the events which are now 
being developed in the archipelago, I transferred my residence to this 
capital since the middle of the month of May last. 

3. Enjoying a fairl}^ good social position within my province, and 
having conducted up to a short time ago businesses of comparative 
importance therein, I have been in constant contact with the greater 
part of the curates of those pueblos who were Recoletos and Jesuits 
up to the end of 1898, when they abandoned the town. I retain a 
goodly number of letters from them, having carried on almost friendly 
relations with some of them. 

4. I have personally known nearly all the friar curates that suc- 
ceeded each other in those pueblos from 1863 to 1898, and estimate 
their number to be no less than 70 individuals. 

5. By their own confession, and also revealing itself in their habits and 
customs, and manner of life, the Recoletos come from the rural class — 
at least the large majority thereof — and from families having very 
meager fortune; the Jesuits come from the different social classes in 
Spain. I understand that the personnel of the other bodies was also 
recruited from the same class as the Recoletos. 

6. I am not wholly acquainted with any property exploited by the 
said orders, so as to give information thereon without fear of falling 
into error, for in my province there is no real estate belonging to them, 
except two parcels of cultivated land acquired of recent years by the 
Jesuits in the pueblo of Balingasag, of which I will speak in the next 
answer; but I deduce from the way in which these parcels were 
acquired that the great haciendas possessed in other provinces by other 
orders were not acquired in the most proper way, and were not 
worked within the spirit of Christain charity, which should be the 
standard of conduct for persons who claimed and claim to be the 
standard bearers of Christianity. 

7. It was the friar curates who really governed the pueblos, not in 
matters connected with their ministry, but in every path of life, with- 
out excepting private life; for although there existed in each pueblo 
an administrative authority, assisted by a board known by the name of 



CHUECH LAISTDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 193 

^'Comun de principales" (council of the head men of the village), and 
of late years justices' courts were created, nevertheless all authorities, 
with very rare exceptions, were completel^^ under the dominion of the 
former, for they were absolutely satisfied that any opposition to the 
slightest desire of the curate would sooner or later bring upon them 
serious trouble. Frequently the local authority was punished by the 
provincial authority for disobedience to its orders, the former prefer- 
ring to break with its chief rather than with the friar. 

This supremacy of the friar was above the family and the individual, 
and by abusing it, and in the certainty of his impunity, he committed 
so man}" and such serious acts which really constituted oli'enses, and 
even crimes, that he caused the hatred which the Filipino feels for 
the friar. I could cite here many cases to prove my assertion, but 
m}^ paper would be interminable. Therefore, I believe it sufficient to 
mention two or three cases which occurred after the insurrection of 
1896 had broken out. 

The curate friar of Loculan ordered the ' ' cabezas de barangay " 
(officials who had in charge the collecting of the head tax from a group 
of fifty families, and some other duties — an office which was consid- 
ered, in the phraseology of the Spanish administration, as '' honorable 
and gratuitous," and as such, and owing to the pecuniar}^ responsi- 
bility he contracted, he was selected from among the best known and 
well-to-do residents) to furnish gratuitous!}^ a certain number of pieces 
of lumber for the construction of a parsonage and church ; and one of 
them could not, on the day designated, deliver the pieces falling to his 
lot, as he had had to employ a part of his time in caring for his own 
interests, although he had the lumber already cut and even ready to be 
transported to the pueblo. This individual was punished by having 
lashes administered to him in the middle of the public plaza, laid face 
down on a bench constructed ad hoc, he being attached thereto by the 
shoulders and feet by means of stocks, so that he could not rise or even 
change position while undergoing punishment, which was inflicted on 
a Sunday at the very moment that the people were coming out of church 
after hearing mass. 

The curate of Catorman ordered that all the residents of the pueblo 
should take up their residence within the central parts of the town in 
order to have them all as though held within his grasp; ordering that 
those whose houses should be located outside the limits by him desig- 
nated should transfer them within the same and within the time named 
by him. Because a resident either could not or would not obey the 
order, and had his house in a cocoanut grove belonging to him, the 
curate ordered it to be raised bodily, to transfer it to the pueblo, being 
left half-way abandoned in a gorge, where, I believe, it can be seen 
to this day. The house was a frame and not a cane building. 

The curate of Balingasay, who was a Jesuit (the two mentioned 
previously being Recoletos), because a joint owner of a piece of land 
which the friar's order had appropriated because it was owed a sum of 
money by the Spaniard, who requested the return of his property of 
the government, and he could not pay the rent of the parcel of ground 
he was working, burned his house, the curate himself applying the 
torch, and ordering that all the corn which had been sowed and the 
cocoanut trees, planted three or four years before, to be cut down. In 
short, everything the poor man had on the ground was destroyed. 

This same curate compelled a poor widow to sell , at a price named 

S. Doc. 190 13 



194 CHUECH LAND3 IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

by him, a piece of ground out of which she made a living for herself 
and her little ones, threatening her with punishment in this world and 
the next in case of refusal. 

8. The relations between the provincial heads and the friars were 
generally of mutual opposition; but this opposition was by no means 
due to the desire of each to comply with the duties of his respective 
office, but because their interests and purposes were antagonistic. The 
authorities were indifferent as to killing the cow so long as they milked 
her as dry as they could, for they knew that in three years at the most 
(rarely did they last that long) they had to give their place to others, 
while it was more advisable for the friars to milk her every day, thus 
succeeding in getting the greatest possible quantity of milk. 

Neither did good harmony reign between the superior authorities 
when the governor-general was upright and honorable and did not 
truckle to the exigencies of the friars. A proof of this was the worthy 
General Despujols, who a few months after entering upon his duties 
was ignominiousl}^ relieved through the work of and thanks to the 
friars. 

9. Fees were charged higher than those appearing in the schedule 
framed by the Archbishop Santa Justa y Ruiina, which was the legal 
schedule that was known — that is to say, that was published — although 
it was said by those interested that they were fully authorized. I 
know of one who charged not less than ff 30 to marry a man who had 
not performed the duties of sacristan, which the curates compelled all 
youths between the ages of fourteen and eighteen to perform, inter- 
preting in their own way an old administrative provision which ordered 
that the people should furnish eight youths for the service of the 
church. 

10. With regard to the moral conduct of the friars in ways other 
than those mentioned, books might be written upon the subject. Out 
of respect for truth I ought, nevertheless, to record that the Jesuits 
never consented to any such failings on the part of any individuals of 
their order. The author of the only case I know of that happened in 
my province was not only relieved of the charge he held, but, as is 
currently reported, he was sent out of the archipelago. 

11. The hatred of the Filipino for the friar recognizes as its prin- 
cipal cause the constant tendency of the latter to humble us, and to 
accomplish this he has sought by every means within his reach to 
divorce us from the peninsular or Spanish elements, to which end he 
always placed obstacles in the way of the Filipino learning the official 
language, going to the extreme of harshly reprimanding his parishioners 
if they greeted him in Spanish (saying: ''Buenos dias; buenas noches"). 

I know of one who, in order to compel a school-teacher graduated 
from the Normal School, who came into his pueblo with his degree and 
appointment to take charge of the municipal school of the pueblo, to 
leave town, made him live in his house and eat with the servants and 
clean the floors, thus accomplishing his purpose. 

The hatred for the friar extends to all who are known as such, with- 
out excluding the Jesuits, although they call themselves the regular 
clergy, because all the individuals, without any distinction whatever, 
(at least among the seventy more or less that I have known), have 
always wished to humiliate the Filipino, to destroy his personality. 
If there is less animosity displayed against the Jesuits in Manila and 
other provinces of Luzon and Visayas, it is because the inhabitants of 
these regions know them only in the atheneum, normal school, and 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 195 

observatoiT, where, opportunists as they are, they observe a conduct 
different from the other orders. But in their curacies and missions in 
Mindanao the}" behave worse than the others, and as to their procedure 
in making proselytes among the idolators I could relate curious things. 

12. It is very true that the friars were the cause of the persecutions 
and deportations of man}" parishioners of theirs, more or less displeased 
with Spain, which it will be easy for the Commission to prove in this 
very capital, where many parties reside who were victims of these 
persecutions. I ought to confess, however, that in my province I 
know of but one case of deportation which was carried into effect, 
because of the report which the Jesuit curate rendered in the admin- 
istrative record, which was made up, the victim being a party who 
exercised the local authority and who distinguished himself during his 
term of office through not wishing to subordinate his acts to the will 
of the curate. 

13 and 14. I can say nothing specifically as to the morality of the 
Filipino clergy, as I have never resided in a parish governed by them, 
and there being in my province not a single individual of the secular 
clergy. I ought, nevertheless, to admit that they are not wholly 
exempt from the faults of the friars, as the latter assert in a loud 
voice, for they are men and not angels, subject always to their dio- 
cesans, who are and ever were friars in modern times; and as such 
always looked with suspicion upon the former, not passing over the 
smallest fault that might reach their ears through public or private 
channels, while as to their cogeners they not onh" boasted that they 
paid no attention to the complaints of the pueblos and the individuals 
agreed, but very often the guilty were rewarded with better curacies 
and even Avith a miter. The faults of the former can not reach the 
proportions of those of the latter. 

As regards the education of the clergy, I can say at once that it is 
very deficient generally, but are they or their superiors at fault for this 
deficiency ? And as regards their preparation for the exercise of their 
sacred ministry, I can not make any assertion without fear of falling 
into an error, but 1 understand, if any fault exists in the premises, the 
moral, canonical, and social responsibility is not theirs. 

15. I do not waver in asserting that the return of the friars to their 
former curacies would be most direful to the Catholic religion, and in 
parts of Luzon (Tagalism) and of Visayas (Panay, Cebu, Negros), dan- 
gerous even to the public order, for knowing the friar as I do I believe 
him incapable of betterment. So soon as the friars shall find them- 
selves in the pueblos they Avill begin to boast of their triumph, and in 
order to continue reigning absolutely they will lay hold of all the 
means within their reach, above all of what is termed the "'lever of 
the century," to bring to their side the most prominent element, and 
when they shall have accomplished it the}^ will begin their actions anew. 

16. An American prelate would be better received by the Filipino 
people than a Spaniard and a friar, but he will onl}- captivate the affec- 
tion of the people in time by his conduct. 

17. I think the S3^stem suggested in the question for religious instruc- 
tion in the schools is sufficient, for its complement should be found by 
the children in the usages and examples in the bosoms of their families. 

18. The curates being friars, even though they be despoiled of their 
political functions and influence, will not bring moral peace to the 
pueblos, for they will seek both, by legitimate means if possible, and 
if not, also. 



196 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

It is undoubted that the relations between the parish priest and the 
people will change from the fact that the carrying on of worship must 
be supported by voluntary contributions. But if the parish priest is 
a Filipino or a foreign priest, in the event of a lack of natives, this 
change in nw humble judgment will redound to the benefit of religion, 
for hypocrisy, the lowest of all vices, will disappear, and the true 
believers will be separated from those who appear to be believers 
through convenience or imposition; and so, if in the Philippines there 
are reared churches made of marble from the foundations to the top- 
most point of the cupola, it will not be at the expense of the sweat 
and fatigue of the unfortunate who are forced to work through threats 
of deportation and denial of spiritual aid in the hour of death, and 
compelled to work gratuitously for three days a week; but they will 
be built at the expense of the rich and poor, though freely and spon- 
taneously, as is the case in the United States. 

19. If it be true that the properties of the friars were always the 
cause of trouble between them and the tenants, and the manner or 
method of acquiring the same was not in harmony with the principles 
of justice — of which facts I have not sufficient data to deny or affirm 
them — if the}^ are not like the cases which I have cited as occurring in 
Balingasay, the expropriation of such property, and the subsequent 
sale in small parcels, and the devoting of the proceeds thereof to the 
creation of funds for public instruction will merit the regard of the 
inhabitants of the regions where such properties are situated. 

Speaking again of the religious question, I am assured that many 
pueblos, so soon as order is reestablished and the curacies are perma- 
nently filled — not with friars, but with secular priests — the pueblos 
will immediately endeavor to create revenues for the maintenance of 
worship, so long as no obstacles are interposed, not in the administra- 
tion of the propert}^, but in the wa}^ of intervention for the purpose 
of putting them to uses other than those originally intended. And it 
is probable that the other pueblos who are in a position to imitate the 
former will do the same, and those which can not so act because of 
their poverty, let them be added to other pueblos, this acting as a 
stimulus toward the betterment of the situation. I do not believe that 
the reduction of parishes because of financial difiSculties will be a 
great obstacle to good spiritual administration, above all if the public 
administration opens new means of communication, and improves those 
now existing. 

These are my humble opinions upon the points embodied in the inter- 
rogatories, expressed with sincerity and frankness and without feeling, 
which I lay before the commission, expressing the hope that they may 
serve in some way for the good of my country. 

If in the course of this writing I have recorded any phrase or word 
that in the slightest way can wound the most worthy persons compos- 
ing the commission, I beg that it will be pleased to pardon me and 
consider them as withdrawn, as also the inaccuracies it suffers for my 
slight education and want of time have prevented me from properl}^ 
correcting them. 

I improve this occasion to offer to all and each one of the gentlemen 
composing the American Civil Commission in the Philippines the most 
respectful consideration of their humble servant. 

Jose Ros. 

Manila, September W, 1900. 



CHUECH LAISTDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 197 



FRANCO. GONZALES. 

Note. — The following answers to the questions prepared by the president of 
the commission were transmitted in a letter from Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera, in 
which he says that the signer of the answers, Sehor Francisco Gonzales, is a promi- 
nent Filipino (a Spaliish mestizo), over 60 years of age, who is a very large landed 
proprietor in Nueva Ecija. 

[Translation.] 
ANSWERS IN NUMERICAL ORDER TO THE INTERROGATOIIIES ANNEXED. 

Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. My long stay (over forty-five years) in the 
provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Pangasinan; my continued 
trips to the pueblos thereof, dealing in domestic products; the man- 
agement of my hacienda, situated in the two last-named provinces; 
and the necessitj^ a provincial has to treat with the parish priests, 
afforded me the opportunity to personally know the majority of these 
priests, and I can assert that I never had an opportunity of finding 
one belonging to the distinguished Spanish class. All of them belong- 
to the humblest class of their "country, Dominicans, Augustinians, and 
Franciscans alike; the three orders that occupied parishes in the said 
provinces. 

6. The Dalayap Dampol and Lolomboy haciendas, situated in the 
pueblos of Bulacan, Candaba, Guingua, and Biga, respectively, belong- 
to the Augustinian order. I can not specify the importance of the said 
haciendas. In Cabanatuan (Nueva Ecija) Fr. Jose Lafuente, Augus- 
tinian and friar curate of the said pueblo, possesses a sugar-cane plan- 
tation of an approximate value of $100,000, with the warehouses, 
grinding machiner}", and refiner}^. 

7. Replying to this question, I can say that all the local governments, 
administrations, public works, and schools had to pass through the 
fine sieve of the parish curate of each pueblo. 

8. By reason of these influences of the friars, their relations with 
the Spanish authorities were strained. 

9. Two things principall}^ acted as a discouragement to the con- 
tracting of matrimony — the bad example of the curates, and the abuses 
of the fees, these going to the extent of charging hundreds of dollars 
for the mere matrimonial religious services. There was no fixed rate 
in this particular, nor for baptisms and interments. 

10. Here is sought the narration of some fact, and although the 
scandalous immorality of the parish friar is a current thing in these 
pueblos, I shall relate what I remember about Father Cienfuegos, a 
Dominican friar, curate of the pueblo of Tayug (Pangasenan) about 
the years 1881 and 1885. This friar, addicted to petticoats, was 
accustomed to pW "monte" with his mistress and other neighbors in 
his own convent; and being asked one day by a Spaniard wh}^ he per- 
mitted gambling in his house, the good father replied, between drinks, 
that he needed resources for his wife, and that he found this means 
very profitable. 

11. The principle cause for the hostility against the friar curates in 
the said provinces has been egotism, unbridled license, illtreatment, 
and contempt for the Filipino. 

12. As a sample of what a displeased parish priest is capable of, I 
shall relate what I witnessed about the year 1867 or 1868 in Rosales 
(Neuva Ecija) on a feast day after high mass at the very moment in 



198 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

which the people were leaving the church. The curate of this pueblo, 
Fr. Raimundo Gallardo, a Franciscan, with his sleeves rolled up, was 
in front of the principal entrance to the church belaboring the shoul- 
ders of a man standing, though strongly tied to a stepladder, with a 
rattan. I left that repugnant spectacle, which lasted, as I subsequently 
learned, until the curate no longer had strength to continue. The 
cause for so brutal a punishment was due to his having dared to col- 
lect in the said town for masses for the famous Virgin Manauag 
(Pangasenan). That unhappy man was the agent of the parish priest 
of Manauag. 

13 and 14. The Filipino priest generally possesses the immorality 
he learned from the friar, and the latter's ignorance; but the pueblos 
do not take them as yet, and they may be made more easily to conform 
to the new conditions should an American archbishop provide what is 
indicated in question No. 18 and the Government carry out all that is 
proposed in question No. 19. 

The "Guardias de Honor" had their origin in the sanctuary of 
Manauag (Pangasenan), of which they were formerly cof raters, the 
head thereof, Antonio Valdes, steward of the curate of the said sanc- 
tuary, having becomie excited in 1898 and attacked the Spaniards in 
Bayanban and other pueblos of the said province. They have been 
known to make counter revolutions, particularly when the Americans 
advanced toward Pangasenan, and afterwards they devoted themselves 
to pillage and murder throughout the whole of the central part of 
Luzon. This association is made up of the indigent population of 
those towns, being an element most leaning toward anarchy. Its 
political object is to become dominant, and later reestablish the friars 
in their curacies, although not one of them knows for certain the 
object he pursues, making himself the easy instrument of him who 
offers to secure for them all they desire. 

Franco. Gonzalez. 

Manila, October 7, 1900. 



HEADMEN AND LEADING RESIDENTS. 

[Translation,] 

In the town house of Aringay, province of La Union, on the 24th of 
October, 1900, at about 8 a. m., the headmen and leading residents 
of this town, being met together, under the presidency of the local 
chief, who invited them to express everything they knew regarding 
the questions set forth in the annexed interrogatories relating to the 
friars, transmitted by Seiior Calderon, a prominent attorney of the 
supreme court of justice — which was translated and explained by Senor 
Don Escolastico de Guzman, municipal secretary, in the dialect of the 
people, in order that all present might state what they had observed 
as to the life and conduct of the friars who have had charge of this 
parochial church — unanimously expressed themselves as follows, in 
viva voce: 

1. How long have you lived in the Philippines? 

A. The majority of those present subscribers hereto, are the oldest 
landowners and leaders of this pueblo. 

2. In what part of the islands have you lived? 



CHURCH LAIRDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 199 

A. Aring-ay. 

3. How much personal opportunity had you before 1896 to observe 
the relations existing between the friars and the people of their par- 
ishes in a religious, in a social, and in a political way? 

A. The majority are ex-captains, cabezas de barangay, landowners, 
and leading residents of the pueblo. As to the religious relations, all 
the sacerdotal and parochial duties were cast upon the coadjutors; no 
burials took place, even though the bod}^ should rot, until the fees were 
paid, however poor the family of the deceased might be, thus preju- 
dicing public hygiene, charity being absent, and violating the canonical 
laws. 

He (the friar) would not furnish the last necessary spiritual needs, 
and as to the confession and communion of the ill, he left it to his 
coadjutor, and the latter is not able to attend to so many. They 
compelled everybody, without exception, to kiss their hands on greet- 
ing them, and he who disobeyed would receive a slap, and they revenged 
themselves as far as they possibly could. As to the social relations, 
they treated the people of the town grossly, belittling those who 
dressed decently by saying that it was not proper for them so to do, as 
they should only wear the salocot and calapaio (palm hat and rain coat) 
to follow carabaos and plows; and they treated their coadjutors worse 
than slaves. 

As to the political relations, they absolutely prohibit the children 
learning Spanish, and look unfavorably upon those who know some- 
thing, advising the fathers of families not to send their children to 
Manila to be educated, as they would become useless. In a word, they 
greatW oppose all manner of enlightenment. 

4. How many friars have you known personally ? 

A. Many; and particularly those who have been parish priests of 
this pueblo. 

5. From what class of society were they drawn in Spain ? Do the 
different orders differ at all in this respect ? 

A. We do not know. 

6. What agricultural or business or residence property in any part 
of the islands do you know from which any order of friars has drawn 
income ? Describe it as well as you can. 

A. In this pueblo they do not possess any property; it is in the 
Tagalo provinces where thej^ possess many and extensive lands and 
other kinds of property. 

7. What political functions were actually exercised b}^ the parish 
priests in the islands under Spanish rule ? 

A. The}^ were appointed honorar}^ presidents and local inspectors of 
schools and public works, but in reality they were the governors, 
judges, presidents, and headmen; for whatever they wanted they got, 
and the}^ ruled the municipal presidents, who could not exercise any of 
their rights without the consent and under the control of the friar, so 
that whatever they wished to be done was done. The}^ taught the 
authorities to commit abuses, outrages, and robberies, so that in this 
way they might have reasons for revenging themselves when the latter 
did not carry out what the}?^ wished. 

8. What, usuall}^, were the relations between the heads of the Spanish 
Government here and the heads of the church ? 

A. The friars had the heads of the Spanish Government under their 
order. The latter were the cause of many vexations, and with their 



200 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

own hands chastised and beat alleged culprits, and whenever a Spanish 
authorit}^ did not second or conform to the wishes of the friars all the 
orders contributed large sums of money to have him removed, and this 
is the true cause of the Filipino revolution. 

9. What fees were actually collected by the parish priests for mar- 
riages, burials, and christenings? 

A. The fees they charged for marriages, burials, and christenings 
were adjusted (to the schedule?), but when there was singing they 
charged excessive fees at will. The fees were established in council 
held in Manila, presided over by the Most Illustrious and Reverend 
Senor Don Basilio de Santa Justa y Rufina, then archbishop. The 
poor, who could not find mone}^ with which to pay the fees, lived 
openly without marrying canonical^, and therefore many lived in con- 
cubinage. 

10. What was the morality of the friars as parish priests, etc. 

A. The morality of the friars generally left much to be desired; it 
was a cause for scandal among their parishioners — the way in which 
they broke their vows of chastity and poverty. This free life of the 
friars was so notorious that nothing was hidden from their parishion- 
ers, who had everything before their eyes on all occasions. We shall 
cite some cases : They compelled all the spinsters to go up into the con- 
vent on Sundays and feast days, and there they exhorted them regard- 
ing matters which were not advisable, and, not satisfied with this, they 
advised them to confess frequently, and they relied upon this means 
to profane the house of God, and, if they did not secure their disor- 
dered ends, they sought means, even though it were calumny, to secure 
the deportation of the fathers of families, and if the women were mar- 
ried their husbands, as happened to a former captain, Don Miguel 
Revollo, and others. 

To show how far their astuteness went, there still exists in the 
convent of this pueblo two secret stairways, the door being in the 
form of a wardrobe, which when opened formed means of escape — one 
communicating with the vault and leading from the choir of the 
church to the sacristy, and the other in the sleeping room of the 
curate, which led to a storehouse which is now used as the ofiice of 
the local presidente. This was the idea of a friar to carry out his 
impure and disordered passions. It can be said that there were two 
curates of this pueblo who were so cruel and inhuman that even 
without any reason they verbally illtreated whoever had the misfor- 
tune to have an34hing to do with them, not to say anything of their 
servants, sacristans, and singers, without respecting the sanctity of 
the place and of religious functions; wherefor, by reason of our con- 
sciences as good Catholics, we can not but not protest under pain of 
threatening the demoralization and corruption of our holy religion. 
They abused all kinds of females without distinction of class or age, 
and when some of them became with child they gave them medicines to 
kill the foetus. 

11. What do you think is the chief ground for hostility to the friars 
as parish priests ? 

A. One of the principal causes for the hostility against the friars 
was their despotism, and this hostility was directed against all the 
religious orders. 

12. Charges have been made against the friars that many of their 
number caused the deportation of Filipinos, members of their parishes, 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 201 

and that in some instances they were guilty of physical cruelty. Whaty 
if anything, do 3^ou know on these subjects? 

A. The parish friars were the only cause of the deportation of many 
Filipinos, who in this town were Senors Anacleto Diaz, former cap- 
tain; Juan Baltasar, also former captain; Florienzo Baltasar, ex- justice 
of the peace and merchant; Don Roman Florentino, Candido Resurec- 
tion, present headmen, and Agripino Carbonel, proprietor, and man}- 
others priests and private individuals who have been deported, and some 
of whom were sentenced to be shot. 

13. What is to be said of the morality of the native priests? 

A. The morality of the native priests is incomparably better than 
that of the friars, although some few, through human weakness, have 
been known to break their vow of chastity. 

14. What as to their education and preparation to discharge clerical 
duties ? 

A. As to the instruction and preparation of the native priests, they 
have a sufficiency to discharge clerical duties. 

15. What do you think would be the result of an attempt of the 
friars to return to their parishes? 

A. The result of the effort of the friars to return to their parishes 
would be that they would not be received and accepted in their par- 
ishes, and they would be the objects of countless vengeances, etc. 

16. What do you think would be the effect in the islands of the 
appointment of an American archbishop? 

A. The effect would be indifference. 

IT. What do 3^ou think of the establishment of schools, etc. ? 

A. The Filipino people being eminently Catholic, it would be advisa- 
ble not to disregard the religious instruction of the Catholic b}^ the 
ministers of the Church, for it is the one that has been transmitted from 
generation to generation, and if it is somewhat demoralized it is the 
fault of the friars. 

18. Will not the fact that the parish priests, etc.^ 

A. Distinction: If they are friars, it is impossible for them not to 
meddle in politics, and they will not be contented with voluntary con- 
tributions, but they will impose forced contributions. As to other 
priests, I believe it would. 

19. What do you think would be the effect of the Government 
expropriating the agricultural property, etc. ? 

A. This is left to the prudence and judgment of the proper parties. 
Nevertheless, as our opinion is asked, we may state that for the good 
of the inhabitants of these islands it woald be better for the Govern- 
ment to pay their value, to sell them in small lots within the reach of 
all, and to create funds for education, charity, and other meritorious 
purposes with the proceeds. 

And in order that it may become of record, we sign these presents 
in honor of truth, in duplicate, one to be transmitted to Senor Cal- 
deron, attorney of the supreme court of justice, and the other for the 
archives of this townhall, to which we certify it. 

[Ninety-seven signatures.] 

Before me: 

EscoLASTico DE GuzMAN, Secretary. 

Senor Escolastico de Guzman y Tabora, municipal secretary of this 
pueblo of Aringay, province of La Union, certifieth and witnesseth: 
That the seals and the signatures of the head men, officers, and 



202 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

residents, together with that of the local president of this pueblo, 
appearing at the foot of the report or interrogatories relating to the 
friars, are in fact those they customarily attach to documents and 
other analogous things; and to make it a record, I certify and wit- 
ness, and sign with the seal of the townhall in Aringay, on the twenty- 
fourth da}'' of October of nineteen hundred. 

[seal.] ESCOLASTICO DE GuZMAN. 



JOSE TEMPLO. 

[Translation.] 

The undersigned, a native and resident of tbe city of Lipa, in the 
province of Batangas, a landed proprietor and agriculturist, frames 
for himself and in representation of the said city, answers to the 
questions contained in the following: 

INTERROGATORIES. 

1. How long have you lived in the Philippines? 
A. Fifty-three years, as I am a native of them. 

2. In what parts of the islands have you lived ? 

A. In this city, where I was born, in the capital of Manila, for 
fifteen years, as I took in the University of Santo Tomas the courses 
of philosophy, canonical law, and Spanish civil law; in the capital of 
Batangas, and in some of the pueblos of the province of Laguna. 

3. How much personal opportunity had you before 1896 to observe 
the relations existing between the friars and the people of their 
parishes in a religious, in a social, and in a political way? 

A. As regards the religious relations, the friar-curates, if they had 
:a coadjutor or coadjutors, did hardly anything in their parishes except 
to confess a few penitents outside of the Lenten season, if they were 
so disposed; the administering of the other sacraments, a great part 
of the penitents, and also of the preaching, being performed by the 
coadjutors. The practical acts of the friars with respect to religion 
were not responsive to their pious calling of missionaries and teachers 
of the natives. They ought rather to be called the corrupters of j^outh. 
For this reason, in the administration of the sacraments they exercised 
only the penitential, as in these they experienced delights and pleas- 
ures through their shameless and incredible solicitations. In Lenten 
time, which was the period when the country folk came in to confess, 
the parish friar would give strict orders to the scribes of the church 
to the end that in the distribution or giving out of the certificates to 
the penitents among himself and the coadjutors, the}^ should give him 
the young unmarried country women and servant penitents, whom he 
obscenely solicited through words and manipulations in the v.onfes- 
sional, which they always had cornered and buried in the darkest part 
of the church, thus setting at naught the severe and wise constitutions 
of the popes, Paul IV Clement VIII, Paul V, Gregory XV, Alex- 
ander VII, and, lastly, Benedict XIV, against soliciting confessors. Is 
a proof of this desired as clear as the light of midday ? Here are the 
thousands of solicited females, of which I have some examples in my 
house, ready to depose if necessary in accordance with what is here 
denounced. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 203 

In the social life the parish friars had introduced from a very early 
date the custom — very humiliating to the Filipinos — of compelling the 
municipal authorities and headmen of the pueblos to present them- 
selves in the convent after the high mass on Sundays and other feast 
days to kiss his hand, without allowing them the consolation of being- 
received in the salons of the building, as the friar received them on 
the stairs without offering them a seat. 

Here all the parish friars, without distinction, who successive!}^ 
governed this flock thou'd all the natives without distinction or classes. 
If any resident or parishioner visited the parish priest in his convent, 
and there happened to be a Spaniard present paying a call, the visiting 
parishioner had to remain standing even though the visit should last a 
day. An aged and old curate of this city, an ex-definer for better iden- 
tification, having died, there came to provisionally fill the curacy a friar 
coming, according to public report, from the pueblo of Bustos. Natu- 
rally all the local authorities and residents in this cit}^ out of courtesy 
and good feeling, ought to have greeted and welcomed him, and in fact 
the judge of the first instance and the district attorney of this district 
went to see the new curate in the convent, and the subscriber, at the 
time justice of the peace of the city, not desiring to show himself less 
courteous and gallant on such an occasion, also went to greet him; but, 
O God! upon endeavoring to take the father's hand, the latter placed it 
in the pocket of his habit. This in the presence of the two function- 
aries above mentioned and of some leading residents. Nevertheless 
the subscriber knew how to console himself for the cut, with the thought, 
taken from the Gospel, that he who came out smirched and with inciv- 
ility was the monk, and that the salutation refused returned and hon- 
ored onl}" him who made it. 

The periodical visits of the provincials of the order of St. Augustin 
were most grievous to the pueblos — object of the visit — as the provin- 
cials could not enter the pueblos without being sought and received at 
the entrance thereof by the head men and maidens, or young women 
with wreaths and sincabanes made many days before the arrival of 
the prelate, with costly flowers and material, and thence conducted to 
the mansion of the parish priest. And I say most grievous, because, 
during the stav of the provincial in the locality, the municipal govern- 
ment, from the municipal captain, formerly gobernadorcillo, to the 
constable, could not attend to the duties of their offices, as the}^ were 
always under the immediate orders of the parish priest, who demanded, 
now horses, now carriages, and carts for the service of the provincial 
and his retinue, now communal laborers for other work that might be 
needed. And it being one of the objects of the visit of the Provincial 
to inform himself as to the conduct of the parish priest with respect 
to his parishioners, the former did not take the slightest trouble to 
make any investigation whatever. And if some complaint were made 
against a curate it produced no results, even when based upon a serious 
matter. 

Politically the friars were the masters of the pueblos in their par- 
ishes, but masters cursed below the breath, and venerated and deified 
outwardly for the simple reason that they were the friends and patrons 
of the heads of the province, and even feared by them, and even b}^ 
the governors-general of the islands, because of their powerful influence 
in the court where they had, and each corporation has, a procurator- 
general, who maintains their prestige safe and their inviolability. 

They are feared and hated by the natives for their intriguing policy 



204 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

of preferring slanderous charges before the Spanish authorities of 
attempts to rebel against the integrity of the Spanish Monarchy on the 
part of the natives — acts that were not even dreamed of, as was the 
case of the 3^ear 1886, if I am not in error, when the parish friar made 
charges before the highest authority in the islands that the leading and 
well-to-do residents of the city were endeavoring to promote an upris- 
ing, when in fact the latter sought nothing more than tranquillit}^ as 
they then had their agriculture in a flourishing state, above all, that of 
coffee, which was the envy of many neighboring pueblos. The charges, 
in a few words, were found to be slanderous and nothing came of them. 
There were governors of this province who spoke atrociously of the 
friars. One of them said to me, " You Filipinos have not known how 
to make an insurrection, because you have left the friars with life." 

4. How many friars have you known personally? 

A. Many; very many. Justice must be done to all. Among those 
I have known and had relations with there were some who were very 
good and virtuous, the recollection of whom is always accompanied 
with praise; but these good friars w^ere in the proportion of one to a 
hundred bad and detestable, so that the former were the exception and 
the latter the general rule. Hence, in the answers I make to these 
interrogatories, I refer to the bad friars, who constitute the general 
rule. It is to be noted that unfortunately the virtuous friars who 
sought the moral and material well-being of their parishioners did not 
last in the curacies. 

5. From what class of society were they drawn in Spain? 

A. To my mind, and according to the admission of some of them, 
they belong to the humble class. 

Q. Do the different orders differ at all in this respect ? 

A. There must be, for they say that there are orders that count 
among them sons of illustrious cradles. 

6. What agricultural, or business, or residence property in any 
part of the islands do you know from which any order of friars has 
derived income? 

A. The order of calced Augustinians, to which the parish friar of 
this city belonged, did not possess, nor does it possess, here, proper- 
ties of any kind, but this lack of property the parish friar knew well 
how to supply ingeniously, converting the church itself into an ele- 
ment for his speculation — quite lucrative — for he had a monopoly on 
the sale of candles so that no parishioner could bring or light a candle 
in the church which did not bear the parochial mark or* seal, the 
acolytes rejecting all candles not bearing the said seal. Moreover the 
parish friar had all the sacristans cautioned when All Saints' Day and 
the commemoration of the faithful saints arrived to lay hold of the 
candles — the offering of the parishioners — at the doors of the church, 
and not to light them (except some few, which reall}^ were lighted until 
they were consumed for the consolation of the public) and to bring 
them out again through the doors of the sacristy to resell them, the 
parish priest vainly endeavoring to justify this diabolical action by 
saying that if the}^ were to be lighted they would be missed by the 
other purchasers. 

The image of the Holy Patron Saint Sebastian, martyr, was another 
element of inexhaustible industry and immense profit to the friar 
curate. Inside the town and outside, or in the barrios, it was carried 
on a platform by a custodian, a canting fellow, going from house 



CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 205 

to house and asking alms in the name of the image; alms consisting 
of mone}^, according to the following invariable tariff: For leaving' 
the image in a house from the morning till the evening, telling the 
rosar\' on its arrival and another rosar}^ on its departure, 2 pesos. 
For staying in a house half an hour, telling one rosar}^, half a peso. 
For remaining in a house a whole night, to go to bed, as they said, 
telling' the rosary twice, 2 pesos. This peregrination of the image or 
of the saint, as the generality of the people said, was continuous, having 
been converted from time immemorial into a modus vivendi of the 
friar, who had ordered the custodian to turn in ever}^ Sunda}" of the 
week a sum not less than 28 pesos. 

These domiciliary visits of the image were considered by the people 
as a divine mercy, and their giving of alms as a virtue; wherefor the 
poorest houses that did not possess one cent raised a wind, although 
in a ruinous manner, in order to have the satisfaction of sheltering the 
image and its custodian during its peregrinations through the barrios 
of this parish. I shall relate here a comical adventure which occurred 
to the image and the custodian. It came the turn of the saint to visit 
the barrio of San Francisco, abutting on the jurisdiction of the pueblo 
of Roasrio, and the image once there, a resident of another barrio, 
known as Tangob, within the limits of the said pueblo of Roasrio, and 
adjoining that where the said image was, as he was especialh^ devoted 
to it, having been a resident of this cit}^, invited it and caused it to be 
conducted to his house. 

At this, the lieutenant of the barrio of Tangob, zealous of the integ- 
rity of the rights of visit of the image of the titular patron of his 
pueblo (for in this province each parish of friars had its image of a 
male or female saint for the purpose in question, each rivaling the 
other in propagating a flood of miracles), so soon as he saw the image 
which was visiting his barrio was not that of the virgin of the rosary, 
but that of St. Sebastian, reported the fact to his curate, who was also 
a friar. This occurred about the 3"ear 1885 or 1886. 

The latter, upon learning of so unjust and unexpected an intrusion, 
sent Cuadrilleros to the said barrio of Tangob, with orders to arrest 
the image and the custodian. The latter, being apprised or informed 
of the danger, succeeded in restoring the image to its own barrio, that 
is, of San Francisco, thus escaping detection. 

This fanaticising practice of the friars in causing the images of the 
saints to be carried around for the purpose of making money is em- 
phatically anathematized by the Valentine concilium, which, in its 
fourth section, title three, chapter eight, orders: "That under pain of 
excommunication neither from the temples nor even from the monas- 
teries shall be taken from the altar relics of saints to a place where 
they shall be presented to the people in order to make lucre out of 
them." 

7. What political functions were actually exercised by the parish 
priests in the islands under Spanish rule ? 

A. Besides those they were legally called upon to perform, interven- 
ing in msinj acts of the municipal government, such as putting their 
''O. K." on the reports prepared by the former, taking part in the 
municipal elections, they acted ultravires, committing the gravest 
abuses and scandals. If the municipal captains, formerly known as 
gobernadorcillos, did not follow the suggestions, good or bad, of the 
friar, whatever their purport, they had one foot in jail and the other 



206 CHUECH LAIRDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

in their house. If the municipal captain did not get the sympathy of 
the friar, but rather his antipathy, through ignorance of how to get 
along with the latter, or for other reasons, he was treated with harsh- 
ness and frequently lined by the governor, and as a slave by the com- 
mander of the detachment of the civil guard, although the latter 
might be a mere corporal. By reason of these vexations to be 
appointed municipal captain was considered, at least toward the end 
of the Spanish rule, as a calamity and ruinous; and I know many 
municipal captains who, in order to get rid of the office, adroitly 
caused themselves to be prosecuted for the simulated offense of pre- 
varication, the punishment for such offense being nothing more than 
disqualification. In the matter of actions, either civil or criminal, if 
the parish friar interested himself on behalf of either of the parties 
litigant, whether he were right or wrong, the opposing party ran the 
risk of losing the case, because ever3^one abandoned him. His lawyer 
abandoned him if he were a Filipino, and the district attorney and 
even the judge would declare themselves against him. The friars 
enjoyed the greatest influence, for they were feared as men having 
power. Many governors-general have ceased to act in these islands 
long before completing their legal term of office, because they have 
incurred the displeasure of the friars. The same thing happened to 
a greater degree with the heads of the provinces who incurred the ill 
feeling of the parish priests. 

Everybody, including the Peninsular Spaniards, dared not incur the 
enmity of the friars unless they desired to see themselves some day 
wounded in their personal dignity. Here is a disagreeable case of this 
kind: A certain judge of the first instance of this district, one of the 
most worthy and upright officials I have ever known, against whom it 
seemed the parish priest harbored ill will, was one day in the parish 
house through one of those special circumstances where courtesy 
overrides valor, together with some gentlemen, friends and satellites 
of the friar. It happened that it was the hour for preparing the table 
for dinner and the friar, following the saying that "Everyone has a 
right to his own opinion," called his steward before the assembled 
guests, and said to him in Tagalo: ''Look here, boy; you put four 
covers on the table, one for me, another for Mr. H., another for Mr. 
D., another for Mr. C, and for the Judge, nothing." Having given 
the order he repeated it to the steward, translating it literally into 
Spanish, in order that the official, who hardly understood the Tagalo, 
should understand it better. A certain governor of the province, a 
participator in the infliction of fines, in bribes, and other oppressions, 
arrived at the convent one day seeking shelter as was his custom. The 
parish friar received him on the stairway, and after greeting him 
dryl}^ said: "My governor, you don't fit in here an}^ more; there are 
20 fathers here and there are no beds for governors." The poor gov- 
ernor left and sought shelter in the house of a resident, whom he had 
just thrown into prison for an imaginary attempt at sedition. 

This same friar could not look with favorable eyes upon any poor 
Peninsular Spaniard living in the localit}^, especially if he were a 
friend of the people, thinking that he would dim the Spanish luster. 
Take the case of an ex-sergeant of carbineers, a native of Valencia, an 
honest man, and a friend of all of Lipa, in whose presence the curate 
felt himself humiliated because he showed the Tagalos that among the 
poor Spaniards there were no superf ormed humble officers — he was 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 207 

the gaff fitter of the cockpit. As the friar could not find any means 
to expel the good Spaniard from this place and the latter paid no 
attention to his talk he made use of the governor, who, with false 
promises of securing him a good place at the provincial capital, sent 
him to the province of Laguna. 

8. What usually were the relations between the heads of the Span- 
ish Government here and the heads of the church ? 

A. The most cordial, if the measures emanating from the heads of 
the Government favorably affected the prestige and the revenues of the 
monastic corporation, but if otherwise, even though they were bene- 
ficial to the whole country — farewell monastic gentleness! 

When the civil code was put in force in these islands, and it is the 
most complete and perfect legislation j^et published relating to civil 
matters, the friars of this province seeing that through the establish- 
ment of civil registration and civil matrimony — institutions contained 
in the said code — their intervention in the performance of the canon- 
ical marriage cermony was lessened and their canonical registers and 
entries regarding this sacrament, and those of baptism and burial, of 
no legal value, and the profitable income that was formerly theirs, 
arising from copies they made of the said entries in the canonical 
registers, gone forever, and that the civil matrimony would some day 
lessen the canonical marriages, became excited as the depths are stirred. 
In view of all this, the friars met together in the parish house pre- 
sided over by their foreign vicar, holding a little council trimmed 
with mummeries, banquets, dances, and shoutings, and representing 
the Spanish minister of the colonies by a servant running around on 
all fours and ridden by a friar, while the rest of the fathers threw stones 
at the quadrupedal minister, and also bones and crumbs from the table, 
shouting amid open-mouthed guffaws: " Gnaw those bones with art, 
B — ." Never have there been seen within this convent so many monks 
together who, formerly humble, threw aside the mask of their alleged 
gentleness and, furious, defied the power of a whole cabinet. Satiated 
with so much diatribe against the poor minister, and affecting gravity 
like the fathers of an ecumenical council, who were about to treat of a 
heres}^, they determined to send an eloquent appeal to the first 
authority of the islands, in which, declaring themselves the faithful 
interpreters of the sentiments of these pueblos, they set forth that the 
implanting in the country of the civil registration and civil matrimony 
would inevitabl}^ produce a serious change in the public order; where- 
for, they stated, the natives rejected them as disturbing and attacking" 
their traditional and pious practices, and ended by praying that the 
said civil code in so far as it related to civil registration and civil matri- 
mony, as above, should be suspended. Either as the result of this 
petition, or as that of many others which were undoubtedly sent by the 
friars of other provinces to the same superior authority, the celebrated 
civil registration and civil matrimony were declared in suspense by the 
Government of the motherland. I shall not fail to record here that 
these pueblos, notwithstanding the protest of the friars, did not refuse 
the said implantation which, although it introduced a great novelty in 
their manner of life, was esteemed as a caress from an eminentl}^ liberal 
Government. 

When a zealous director-general of the civil administration decreed 
as a sanitary measure that bodies should not be exposed within the 
churches, and that funeral ceremonies in the presence of the body 



208 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

should not be conducted, as this wise measure also attacked the treasury 
of the friars, the latter became excited like an immense ant-hill (guya- 
mangpula) that is trod upon, not desiring to obey the said decree but 
rather a communication from the archbishop establishing precisely 
the contrary, alleging that the latter was their superior. Such is the 
harmony that existed between the friars and their prelates and the 
governors of Spain in these islands. 

9. What fees were actually collected by the parish priests for mar- 
riages, burials, and christenings? 

A. During the Spanish rule the parish priest of this cit}^ charged: 
For each marriage, six pesos and fifty cents, besides the presents made 
b}^ the wedded couple, consisting of chickens and hens; for burials, 
according to the following tariff: For each burial, with prayers, of an 
adult, if the latter were a pure native, three pesos fifty cents; for the 
burial of a Chinese mestizo, with prayers, ^yg pesos; for the burial of 
a child of native parents, two pesos fifty-six cents; for burial of a child 
of Chinese mestizos, three pesos sevent3^-five cents; for first-class in- 
terment of a child, with coffin and in a pantheon or niche, thirty-seven 
pesos and fifty cents; if the deceased were the child of Chinese mesti- 
zos, a larger amount was charged; for a third-class interment of an 
adult, with coffin and in a niche, fifty-four pesos and thirty cents; for 
a second-class interment of an adult, with coffin and niche, ninety 
pesos and thirty cents; for a first-class interment with coffin and niche 
of an adult, up to two hundred and twenty pesos was charged. It 
should be noted that for interments of Chinese mestizos of any kind, 
adults and children, a larger sum was charged than that designated in 
each scale for natives. These fees were arbitrary and very excessive, 
for the parish priest kept from the public the legitimate schedule of 
fees published by the worthy archbishop of Manila, Senor Don Basa- 
lio S. de Santa Justa y Rufina, so as not to be governed thereby, as it 
did not yield so much money. 

In order that it may be seen how excessive were the parochial fees 
charged by the friar, I state that in the schedules of the said arch- 
bishop Santa Justa y Rufina, which I have read, the charge for a bap- 
tism was only a candle, valued at about 6 cents; for a marriage, about 
5 pesos; for the interment, with prayers, of a child, 1^ pesos; for each 
interment, with prayers, of an adult, double this amount — that is, 3 
pesos; for each first-class burial there was no charge greater than 25 
pesos, if I am not mistaken. 

Besides, the parish friar of this city, when any person died (and this 
was the most hateful act and the most worthy of public animadversion 
and of the anathema of all peoples) caused to be investigated, through 
his best familiar or sacristan, the amount of the estate of the deceased. 
Should the latter have been wealthy or well-to-do, he compelled (and 
no tears or sobs could stay him) the family thereof to have a funeral 
of the highest possible class, and never allowing it to be of a lower 
class — with one prayer, for instance. 

Ever}^ rich resident who should violate this Draconian mandate would 
be " thou'd" by the friar as though he were a great filibuster; that is, a 
great enemy, not of his, but of Spain. 

One day a fairly well-to-do resident (as the saying goes) died, and 
as his death occurred in Holy Week and the interment should have 
been made of necessity on Good Friday, it was performed with but 
one prayer, since the solemnity of the day would not permit any other 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 209 

kind of interment, but the artful friar, desiring to get what he failed 
to secure through providential chance, compelled the famih^ of the 
deceased to give the church 40 pesos for masses at ^1 each, notwith- 
standing the fact that the fees chargeable for the interment had been 
paid. This satanic act has left bitter traces in nw soul, as I was one 
of the bereaved and a relative of the deceased. Could a greater in- 
iquity have been committed? 

Q. How were they (the fees) fixed, if you know? 

A. By the friars themselves at their own sweet will. 

Q. What, if an}', was the effect of such fees upon marriages? 

A. None; because as this sacrament produced pleasure and the hon- 
eymoon, there are no fees, however high, to restrain it. 

11. What do you think is the chief ground for hostility to the friars 
as parish priests ? 

A. The abuses, tyrannies, and countless immoralities committed 
safely, synthacized in the facts recorded and in man}' others no doubt 
worse, of which the deponent has no knowledge, as the}' were committed 
elsewhere, and must have partaken of another character owing to a 
diversity of conditions; and I say ''safely" because in the Philippines 
no one could call the friar to account for his acts. And if any 
governor allowed himself at any time to bridle the friars his rashness 
cost him dearly, he being discharged from his office. 

Q. Does it (the hostility) exist against all the orders ? 

A. Against the Augustinians, calced and uncalced; Dominicans and 
Franciscans. I believe it did not exist against the Paulists, because 
their mission being solely to manage the conciliary seminaries — the 
nursery of the native clergy — they have no occasion, living as- they do 
outside the century, to allow their conduct to be known to the pueblo. 
With respect to the Jesuits, I do not make bold to assert whether or 
not such hostility exists, since they have not occupied curacies in this 
island of Luzon since their expulsion, but only in that of Mindanao, 
although I am inclined to believe that the Jesuits enjoy here in Luzon 
public esteem as good teachers of youth. With regard to the Capucins, 
the Carolines will take care to judge them. 

Q. Why the difference ? 

A. It is due to the circumstances already set forth in the foregoing 
answer. 

12. Charges have been made against the friars that many of their 
number caused the deportation of Filipinos, members of their parishes, 
and that in some instances they were guilty of physical cruelty. 
What, if anything, do you know on these subjects? 

A. The deportations of thousands of Filipinos to the distant islands 
in the south of the Archipelago, to the Marianas, and even to the 
Spanish colonies in Africa, were in great part the work of the friars. 
And now to the proof: A few of the residents of Villa, finding our- 
selves one night gathered in the convent, between 6 and 7 o'clock, 
carrying out against our will the tiresome custom of occasionally 
exhibiting ourselves to the friar to erase from his feverish imagination 
the evil preoccupation that he might perhaps have conceived against us, 
believing us to be filibusters. Among the group was a cultured young 
man a short time before arrived from the Peninsula, qualified to be 
admitted as a licentiate in civil law, who had followed his law studies 
partly in the University of Santo Tomas and partly in the University 
of Madrid, having passed many of the years of his youth in the cap- 

S. Doc. 190 11 



210 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

ital of Spain and in that of Valencia, and as the friar did not know 
him, and it being the first time that he had seen him — and the last — 
he asked him: ''And who art thou?-' To which the youth replied: 

"I, Father, am one of ." "Of the branded?" inquired the 

monk. "No, Father, I am a resident of the barrio of Mataasnalupa, 
at the command of your reverence." Two weeks had hardly passed 
when I learned, to the great sorrow of my soul, that the poor young 
man, who divided his time between books and chicken raising, was 
taken from his house by a couple of municipal guards by order of the 
parish friar and taken to the capital of this province, where he was 
placed in the hands of the governor, who, not knowing what to do 
with him, transferred him to Manila. He, after sufi'ering incredible 
miseries inherent to a long voyage, eventually landed in one of the 
Spanish colonies in Africa, where he died, wept by the Spanish gov- 
ernor of the colony because of his learning and fine traits of charac- 
ter and the services he had rendered in the dependencies of the Gov- 
ernment as an amanuensis. 

13. What is to be said of the moralit}^ of the native priests? 

A. The few native priests that exercised the duties of curates of 
souls, it may be stated with certainty, had among them— as they could 
not but have in view of human frailty- — some who, forgetting their 
sacred character, smirched their name with acts reprehensible to mo- 
ralit}^ and good habits, but they never reached the degree of perversion 
of the friars, because they did not rely, like the latter, upon immu- 
nity, prestige, and influence. 

Moreover, the native priests always divided with their coadjutors — 
if they -had them — the labors and duties of their parishes. This is 
undeniable, for it is notorious to natives and foreigners. As regards 
the native coadjutors, I do not think it would be back-biting or slan- 
derous to divide them into virtuous priests and priests without virtue, 
in view of the weakness of human nature, as has already been said, 
but as they did not fill in the parishes anything but a secondary place, 
as their name indicates, it may be asserted that illy could they have 
given the public serious reason for criticising their actions, as it may 
be also asserted that they were under the watchfulness of their parish 
friar. The prior, although he plays cards, never wants the friars to 
do it. 

14. What as to their education and preparation to discharge cleri- 
cal duties? 

A. There is no doubt that the native priests are instructed in the 
ecclesiastical discipline, singing, ecclesiastical rituals, holy writ, sacred 
works, homilies of the saints, and the formalities for conducting the 
sacramental ceremonies, especially such as referred to the hearing of 
confession, and other rites and ceremonies, since they were educated 
in the conciliary seminaries, instituted pursuant to the method pre- 
scribed in chapter 28, section 23, of the council of Trent, followed 
in Spain and, therefore, in these islands as law, whose decisions as 
regards this point were the result of persuasion and of the mind of 
a Catholic senate, and of several eminent men in piety and doctrine. 

The native clergy as coadjutors in the parishes governed by friars, 
besides supplying the place of the latter, as has been already said, in 
all the matters relating to the labors of administration of the sacra- 
ments, penitence, communion, baptism, and matrimony, and inter- 
ments, and preaching within the church, discharged further, with the 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 211 

greatest abnegation, laborious services beyond the town or in the bar- 
rios of the parish, removed sometimes one, two, or three leagues there- 
from, suffering the rigors of this climate, seeking out dying parish- 
ioners in order to give them the solace of our most holy religion. I 
know that some of these laborers in the vineyard of the Lord found 
their death in their evangelical work, some through the rolling over 
of the horse they were riding, and others through the contagion of 
epidemic diseases, with which the dying were attacked. And the 
saddest thing after all was that the native clergy only received from 
the hands of the friar the meager pittance of 16 pesos a month for all 
his necessities. 

I shall not proceed without making mention of a portion of this 
native clerg}^ so unjustly attacked by the monachal clergj^, which, 
shown by reason of their signal knowledge, solid virtue, and vast learn- 
ing, merited a distinguished seat in the capitulary chapter of this holy 
metropolitan church, like the illustrious Senor Don Mariano Garcia, 
doctor of sacred theology, rector of the College of San Jose, honorary 
auditor of the rota of the nunciature in Spain, and the dignity of choir 
leader; Don Vicente Garcia, also a doctor of theology, pro visor of the 
bishopric of Nueva Caceres, and later penitentiary canon by competi- 
tive examination; Don Telesfero Trinidad, choirmaster; Don Sabino 
Padailla, treasurer; Don Simon Ramires Ledo, canon; Don Pedro Pelaz, 
doctor of theology, canon and capitulary vicar in a vacant see of this 
archbishop; Don Gregorio Ballesteros, doctor of theology, and in sacred 
canons, prebend; Don Faustino Billafranca, doctor of theolog}"; Don 
Mariano Sevilla, also doctor of theolog}^; Don Manuel Rojas, licentiate 
of theology, and many others I have forgotten. There were also native 
priests who flourished in the university cloisters of the pontifical uni- 
versity of Santo Tomas of Manila, such as the imperishable and unfor- 
tunate Senor Don Jose Burgos, prince and leading light of the said 
cloister, doctor of philosophy and theology, prebend of the said cathe- 
dral church, who died on the scaffold, together with the no less illus- 
trious priests, Senor Don Jacinto Zamora, curate of the chapel of the 
said cathedral church, and Senor Don Mariano Gomez, parish curate of 
the pueblo of Bacoor in Cavite, victims, these three, of the hatred of 
the vengeful friars, Fathers Abaya, Buendia, and others difficult to 
mention. 

15. What do you think would be the result of an attempt of the 
friars to return to their parishes ? 

A. The continuance of this disastrous war, assassinations, profaning 
with them sacred places, in view of the constant ebullition of mind of 
the Filipinos against these habited people ; and in many pueblos, if not 
in all, the suspension of worship and of many highest practices on the 
part of the native faithful, and, above all, apostacy. That in the 
event, which 1 do not anticipate, of the Government of the United 
States determining on the return of the friars to their curacies, it would 
commit a political error of incalculable gravit}^ consisting in the 
division of the hold over the persons of the Filipinos, wherein the friar 
curates, who will not cease to be considered as foreigners, even though 
they be secularized, as they have their convents and principal semina- 
ries in Spain, would have the sway over the soul — which is the most 
noble part of man — the said Government remaining with the body, 
the result of this being that the country would be governed politically 
and religiously by two elements of distinct nationality, which would 
give rise to grave disturbances. 



212 CHURCH LANDS 11!^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

16. What do you think would be the effect in the islands of the 
appointment of an American archbishop ? 

A. The outcome will tell. 

17. What do j^ou think of the establishment of schools in which 
opportunity would be given the ministers of any church to instruct the 
pupils in religion half an hour before the regular hour? 

A. The idea seems to me to be good and laudable, because the 
simultaneous teaching of religion and of other sciences would save 
time in behalf of the pupil and would result in economy in the public 
expenses. 

Q. Would this satisfy the Catholics of the islands in their de'sire to 
unite religion with education? 

A. Greatly; for the very simple reason that religion would be 
taught by competent persons of recognized ability, and the la}^ pro- 
fessors could devote themselves in turn to the benefit of all — to teach- 
ing the other branches of learning intrusted to them. 

18. Will not the fact that parish priests, whoever they may be, will 
have no political functions to perform, and no political influence, and 
must depend on the voluntary contributions of their parishioners for 
their support, very much change the relation of the pi'iest to the 
people ? 

A. There is no doubt that it would result in a ver}^ great change in 
those relations, and this change to my mind would be very salutary 
for the soul, because the measure would accord with what is established 
in the sacred canons and in ecclesiastical discipline, which order that 
the priests shall not meddle in temporal things in order that the}^ may 
not be swerved from the exercise of their sacred ministry. 

19. What do you think would be the effect of the Government 
expropriating the agricultural property justly belonging to the friars, 
paying what it is worth, selling it out in small parcels, and using the 
proceeds for a school fund? 

A. The Government may decree the expropriation mentioned in the 
question. If it can not be carried into effect owing to the thousand 
difficulties that may arise, the Government may then temporarily lease 
the said properties and sublease them in parcels to small holders, 
appointing employees and establishing special offices for the adminis- 
tration of the same. 

Jose Templo. 

Villa of Lipa, Septemler ^If,, 1900. 



[Translation.] 

THE PROBLEM OF THE FRIARS. 

In the newspaper called El Progreso, of the 4:th of the present month 
of September, I have read that the civil commission on entering on 
the discharge of its duties, distributed among several prominent Fili- 
pinos some interrogatories, the questions in which were limited to the 
pending problem of the religious orders. 

Proceeding upon the hypothesis that the civil commission desires to 
hear every Filipino upon the said questions, I proceed to reply to the 
29 questions of the said interrogatories, although I have not received 
directly any copy thereof: 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 213 

1. How long have you lived in the Philippines? 
A. Since I was born. J am 65 years of age. 

2. In what parts of the islands have you lived? 

A. In Zambales, where I first saw the light, Manila, Cavite, Bula- 
can, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Tayabas, La Laguna, Morong, Ilocos 
Sur, Albay, Iloilo, Bohol, Cebu, and the two Camarines, in the capital 
of which, the city Nueva Caceres, I have been established since the 
year 1893. 

3. How much personal opportunity had you before 1896 to observe 
the relations existing between the friars and the people of their par- 
ishes in a religious, in a social, and in a political way ? 

A. So very many were the personal opportunities I had to make the 
said observations mentioned in the question that it is in every way 
impossible for me to specify the number of such opportunities. Suf- 
fice it to say that from the age of 15 years (I repeat that I am 65), I 
have almost daily witnessed acts which have made more deep-seated in 
me the conviction that the friar, or rather the sj^stem which gives as 
a result the friar, is incompatible with the liberty and happiness of 
the people. 

4. How many friars have you known personally ? 

A. I have known man}" Dominican, Augustinian, Recolletto, and 
Franciscan friars; perhaps 200 of them, and having been in rather 
intimate relations with some of them, and I can assert that the best of 
them was a tyrant, who found much pleasure in sa^dng: "The Filipino 
must be given bread with one hand, and rattan beatings with the 
other." In Spain, by merely cutting off a thousand heads, Don Carlos 
would reign, and consequently the kingdom of peace, of order, and of 
justice would prevail. 

5. From what class of society were they drawn in Spain? Do the 
different orders differ at all in this respect ? 

A. Those I have known belonged to farmers' families, and of them 
some Spaniards were wont to say : ' ' They were caught with a lasso on 
the field of Spain." In this regard there is no difference appreciable 
to my mind between the different religious orders; and although it is 
to be presumed that among the friars there ma}^ be one or more from 
a distinguished family, I have not had the pleasure of knowing any 
individual of this class. 

6. What agricultural, or business, or residence property in an}" part 
of the islands do you know from which any order of friars has derived 
income ? Describe it as well as you can ? 

A. The friars have properties devoted to agriculture in the pueblos 
of Calamba, Binan, and San Pedro Tunasan de la Laguna; in Muntin- 
lupa, province of Manila; in Guadalupe and San Felipe Ner3^ where 
the}" also have quarries, being worked by lessees; in Imus, and other 
pueblos of Cavite; in Bulacan, and in Cagayan. In Manila and Cebu 
they must have business property yielding an income. As regards 
business, they sell scapularies in the sanctuary of San Sebastian, girdles 
in doorway of San Augustin, rosaries in that of Santo Domingo, 
and old habits and roses of Jericho in that of San Francisco. I am 
unable to describe the suburban and urban properties of the friars. 

7. What political functions were actually exercised by the parish 
priests in the islands under Spanish rule? 

A. The following: Their report was decisive for the incarceration 
and deportation of a Filipino without his being apprised of the reason, 



214 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

or permitted to present his defense. Their report also determined the 
appointment of a public official, so that no one could be a local author- 
it}^ justice of the peace, cabeza de baranga}", etc., without their will 
and acquiescence. More than this, without the "O. K." of the curate 
friar the accounts of a gobernadorcillo, teniente, or municipal captain 
were not approved. The friar enjoyed immunity as regards his reports, 
and hence he rendered them just as he pleased when treating of an 
enenty or of an individual who had been appointed to an office against 
the former's will. The Philippine laws granted the friars intervention 
in all matters, and intervention which made them masters of the life and 
the liberty of the Filipinos. So powerful were they that Don Marcelino 
Orza, Spanish governor-general of the Philippines, said on a certain 
occasion to the King of Spain: ''Send me, Your Majesty, forty-five; 
they will serve me better than forty battalions." And the same gen- 
eral, or another, also said: " Y. M. has an arni}^ in each friar." 

8. What usually were the relations between the heads of the Span- 
ish Government here and the heads of the church ? 

A. Cordial as a rule; but at times the ecclesiasts made their will 
prevail. Daniel Moraza, director of civil administration, issued a cir- 
cular providing for all the school-teachers to teach the Spanish language, 
to which the majority of the friars were opposed, the result being that 
Senor Moraza was removed. Later, Don Benigno Quiroga Ballesteros, 
also director of civil administration, essayed the same, it being pub- 
licly stated that he had in view the secularization of the University of 
Santo Tomas, of Manila, and filling its professorships by competitive 
examination, in order that the chairs might be filled not by those who 
should beat their breasts more and pray longer, but by those who 
should have more scientific attainments and greater professional apti- 
tude. The removal of Senor Quiroga did not have to be awaited long. 
Recently the governor-general, Senor Despujol, having displeased the 
friars because he did not shoot anyone and deported no one, was 
relieved. I recall that in 1892, while I was in France, I read in several 
newspapers a telegram from the Archbishop of Manila, wherein, after 
the sender asserted that Senor Despujol was an inconvenience in the 
Philippines, he said to the Spanish Government: "Either General 
Despujol leaves here or we, the Archbishop of Manila, and all the 
friars, will leave." The history of the Philippines records two signifi- 
cant facts: The imprisonment of a governor-general, carried into effect 
by the friars, who loaded him down with chains and shipped him to 
Mexico, which he did not reach, having died en route, and the assas- 
sination of another governor-general and his son. 

9. What fees were actually collected by the parish priests for mar- 
riages, burials, and christenings? How were they fixed, if you know? 
What, if any, was the effect of such fees upon marriages? 

A. The fees actually and really charged by the curate friars for 
marriages and interments were excessive, not subject to any tariff, 
and the worst of all was the way in which they were collected. At 
times the corpse would be left unburied for many hour« because the 
curate did not wish the burial to be carried into effect without the fees 
he charged being first paid. The fees for marriages and interments 
were established by the Archbishop of Manila, Don Basilio de Santa 
Justa y Rufina; but the friars did not govern themselves thereby, 
rather collecting fees as they pleased; thus it was that cases arose in 
which in some parishes higher fees were charged and in others lower, 
scandal being the natural result. In 1866 or 1867, Dona Lucia del 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 215 

Fierro died in the pueblo of Lindol, province of Zambales, and was 
buried in the pueblo of San Felipe, to which parish the pueblo of 
Lindol belonged. The curate, who was a Recoleto friar, Fra}^ Mariano 
Rincon, presented a bill which at the first glance showed it was most 
excessive, sending word to the family that the deceased would not be 
buried if the bill were not first paid. He was told that he would be 
paid immediately, but to kindly produce the tariff in order to see what 
was chargeable for each item, it being worthy of note that the bill 
only contained the aggregate of the fees, and did not set forth the 
account in detail. The curate replied that he would present the tariff 
during the burial, which he again asserted would not be carried out 
if he did not receive the fees beforehand. The curate was paid to his 
entire satisfaction, but he did not produce the tariff, and the subscriber 
became the object of his animosit}^ because he believed that as I was a 
nephew of Doiia Lucia, the idea of asking him for a detailed account 
and the production of the tariff had come from me. At that time I 
wished to ask for American naturalization, and I made steps looking 
toward it for fear of being deported; but Father Rincon fell into 
disgrace among the friars, going, it seems, to the extent of fleeing 
from the Convent of Recoletos, and this relieved me of his revenge, 
my relatives and friends succeeding in causing me to desist from my 
purpose of changing nationalit}^ They did not charge fees for bap- 
tisms, but for the candles they furnished, or for the sounding of the 
bells, or for the playing of the organ of the church. The fees which 
impose a burden on marriages were the cause of the poor not marry- 
ing and living in concubinage. In order to put an end to this evil, 
which reduced the income of the curate, the friars succeeded in securing 
from General Terrero, if my memor}^ does not deceive me, the depor- 
tation of all who were living in concubinage. How manj^ thus living 
departed from Zambales never more to return to their countr}" through 
having had to live in an unhealthy and deadl}^ place. The pretext for 
this was the moralit}", the purity of the customs, and the cleaning out 
from the provinces of filibusters; but the fact was that the friars were 
defending their income, and to him who wished to marry and did not 
pay in advance they were wont to say: "You either pay, or go to 
deportation for concubinage." 

10. What was the moralit}^ of the friars as parish priests ? How much 
opportunit}^ have you had to observe ? Can j^ou give me instances ? If 
so, please do so. 

A. I have known curate friars, who were of exemplary conduct, 
highly virtuous, religious, and good Catholics. But I have also known 
many friars so immoral and cynical that they were wont to sa}", confi- 
dentialh^, when the}^ were intoxicated, that they had a great advantage 
over those who were not priests in the conquest of good-looking women, 
as they relied on the confessional, and through it they became apprised 
of facts which made eas}" the attack, assault, and taking of the strong- 
hold. In 1850, when I was 15 years of age, Don Jose Sanchez Guer- 
rero, alcalde mayor of Zambales, began a war without truce against 
the friars of that province, and all of them, except one, were carried 
to Manila, not only because the}" had women and children, but also 
because of their scandalous life, without caring a whit whether the 
whole world were apprised of the fact that they had what the}" called 
their wife and progeny. Vide in the work of Cafiamaque, '' Recuer- 
dos de Filipinas," an appendix relative to the friars. 

11. What do you think is the chief ground for hostility to the friars 



21(^ CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

as parish priests? Does it exist against all the orders? Why the 
difference ? 

A. The principal cause for the animosity and hatred of the friars 
lies in the abuses committed by them as curates, relying on the exist- 
ing legislation, which elevated them to the category of petty kings of 
the pueblos, where only that was done which seemed to them advis- 
able. Fray Sebastian Mayuar, a Recoleto, acting parish curate of the 
pueblo of San Narcisco, in Zambales, once said to a gobernadorcillo, 
when I was present, ''This order of the alcalde mayor will be obeyed, 
but will not be carried out." This statement gave one to understand 
that immediately succeeding the signature of the alcalde mayor it had 
to be stated that the order would be obeyed; the gobernadorcillo limit- 
ing himself to this formality, leaving in a quiet and passive manner the 
order received to become a dead letter. Neither the Paulist Fathers, 
nor the Capuchins, are disliked in the islands of Luzon, Visayas, and 
Mindanao; neither are the Jesuits in the two islands first named, and 
in my judgment this difference is due, with respect to the Paulists, to 
their having devoted themselves solely to teaching; with respect to the 
Capuchins, to their being new in the country and never having filled 
any curacy in the Philippines, and as regards the Jesuits, they are 
liked in Luzon and Visayas because they limit themselves on these 
islands to teaching, like the Paulist Fathers; but on Mindanao, where 
they had curacies, they are as much disliked and hated as the individ- 
uals of the other religious orders. 

12. Chai'ges have been made against the friars that many of their 
number have caused the deportation of Filipinos, members of their 
parishes, and that in some instances they were guilty of physical 
cruelty. What, if anything, do you know on these subjects? 

A. A Filipino prayer, written by me long before I had any notice 
of the interrogatories to which I am replying, will answer this question 
satisfactorily. Here is the said Filipino prayer: 

"My God and Master! Have compassion upon us, the Filipinos; 
protect us from the Dominicans, Augustinians, Recoletos, and Fran- 
ciscans. By instigations of these friars thousands of Filipinos have 
been torn from their homes, some to eat the hard and black bread, or 
the pinaua of deportation, and others to shed blood in streams at exe- 
cutions. They were conducted to the calabooses, and there they were 
suspended from a beam with a pile of rocks on their shoulders, and 
several others hanging from their feet and their hands. Suddenly 
the cord by which they were suspended was loosened, and they fell in 
a heap on the floor, where, if they were not killed, they suffered dis- 
locations and fractures. Later they were lashed on the soles of the 
feet, on the calves, on the backside, on the shoulders, and on the 
stomach. Their fingers and toes and privates were squeezed and 
mangled with pincers. They were given electric shocks. They were 
given to drink vinegar or warm water with salt in excessive quantities, 
so that they might vomit whatever they had eaten, and which had not 
passed through the pylorus into the small intestine. Their feet were 
placed in the stocks, and they were compelled to lie on the ground 
without even a bad mat, the mosquitos, chinch-bugs, fleas, and other 
insects sucking their blood, and the rats, at times, coming in their 
mad race and biting to render worse their sorry and afflicted situation. 
They were given nothing to eat or drink except from one afternoon 
to another, the unhappy imprisoned Filipinos thus experiencing the 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 217 

tortures of hunger and of thirst. And after causing them to suffer 
other horrible tortures invented by the inquisition of ominous memor}^ 
squalid, careworn, extenuated, hardly able to stand erect, many were 
taken to the field, where they died by shooting, for such was the will 
of the friars, who every day asked for blood — Filipino blood — the 
blood of those who in this country stood out by reason of their knowl- 
edge, their virtue, their uprightness, or their wealth. Thou knowest, 
my God, that in 1872 the Filipino fathers Don Mariano Gomez, Don 
Jose Burgos, and Don Jacinto Zamora died on the scaffold because 
they opposed the friars usurping the curacies of the priests, as in the 
end they did usurp them, because the friars were almost omnipotent at 
that time, and there was no human power to arrest their will. Neither 
are we ignorant, my God, that in 1897 there were shot to death on the field 
of Bagumbayan the Filipino priests Don Severino Diaz, Don Gabriel 
Prieto, and Don Inocencio Herrera, because the two first-named objected 
to the curate of Naga, a Franciscan friar, collecting some parochial 
fees belonging to the said Father Diaz, as curate of the cathedral of 
Nueva Caceres. Thou also knowest, my God and my Lord, that not- 
withstanding that Dr. Don Jose Rizal, the unfortunate, Macario Va- 
lentin, and innumerable other Filipinos were wholly innocent, they also 
succumbed on the field of Bagumbayan, shot to death. Neither is it 
unknown to Thee, my God, that a multitude of Filipinos have remained 
marked forever as the result of blows and cruel treatment they have 
received, among them General Lucban, who has a rib sprung, and will 
probably carry it through life. Inspire, Lord, the American authori- 
ties with the idea of making an examination and excavations in the 
Monastery of Santa Clara of Manila, for about fifteen years or more 
ago a nun went upon the roof of the said monastery and there loudly 
begged for help — a scandalous fact which many Manilaites can not but 
recall. Expel, Lord, expel from the Philippines the friars, before 
there is powdered glass in the rice we eat and poison in the water we 
drink, and before Dr. Manuel Jerez Burgos, to whom an anonymous 
missive was addressed saying: 'Lara died to-day; thou shalt die 
to-morrow,' shall be assassinated. Take, Lord, take from our sight the 
habits of the friars, which recall to us days of mourning and affliction, 
days of prisons, deportations, tortures, and executions of beings who 
are dear to us, whose unhappy end still draws tears from our e3^es and 
fills our hearts with anguish. Do more yet, my Lord and God, dis- 
solve, annihilate, destroy throughout the world the monastic order 
whose by-laws constitute a woeful system which produces, and neces- 
sarily must produce, men hypocritical, perverse, covetous, and cruel 
oppressors of humanity, as is evidenced by histor}^ and recently by 
the present war in China, occasioned by the abuses, arbitrariness, and 
excesses of the friars. We supplicate and pray Thee, my God, that 
Thou cast out from the Philippines forever the friars that again are 
attempting to take possession of the curacies of the Philippines, to 
treat anew our priests as though they were their servants. Amen." 

13. What is to be said of the morality of the native priests? 

A. The duty of speaking the truth imposes upon me the necessity of 
stating that the native priests are on the same footing as the friars, for 
there are Filipino priests of exemplary conduct, as there are also many 
who leave much to be desired in the way of morality. Were the 
Catholic priests allowed to marry, like the Protestant pastors, we should 
not have, as at present, spectacles b}" no means edifying. 



218 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

14. What as to their education and preparation to discharge clerical 
duties ? 

A. The Filipino clergy are educated, and can become more educated, 
for, let the friars say what the}^ niay, the Filipinos have a capacity for 
the sciences, as is at once apparent, for man is the same everywhere, 
except in localities where heat or cold are very excessive, and this 
truth may be proven in this country, where we have wise men in all 
the branches of human knowledge. They are already sufficiently pre- 
pared for the discharge of clerical duty. When, in 1835, the friars were 
put to death in the Peninsula it was not Spanish friars, but Filipino 
priests who discharged the curacies in the Philippines. Subsequently 
friars came to relieve them, although they could not know as much as 
they, since, through a dispensation of the Pope, they became priests 
after four or two years of study — I do not remember exactly, and the 
notes I had jotted down in the premises have disappeared in conse- 
quence of the present revolution. 

15. What do you think would be the result of an attempt of the 
friars to return to their parishes? 

A. The result of that attempt would be fatal; and there might be a 
reproduction here of the disturbances in the Peninsula in 1835. The 
mission of the friars has terminated in the Philippines, and everybody 
in this country except the women, the children, the relatives, and the 
friends of the friars are tenaciously and obstinately opposed not only 
to their returning to their parishes, but also to their remaining in the 
Philippines. We Filipinos are disagreed on many points; but as to 
the expulsion of the friars, man}^, very many, ardently desire it, and 
request it with vehemence. Let this matter be submitted to a vote in 
the Philippines, and the result would undoubtedly be a majority of 
millions of votes. 

16. What do you think would be the effect in the islands of the ap- 
pointment of an American archbishop? 

A. To my mind it would produce a good effect, provided he is not a 
friar. All the Catholics would accept him with veneration and respect, 
and as to the non-Catholics, as they would not see in him a represen- 
tative of despotism and tj^ranny, they could not but applaud his selec- 
tion and appointment. 

17. What do you think of the establishment of schools in which 
opportunity would be given the ministers of any church to instruct 
the pupils in religion half an hour before the regular hour? Would 
this satisfy the Catholics of the islands in their desire to unite religion 
with education? 

A. As 1 am one of those who oppose the freedom of conscience, I 
find the idea of establishing schools in the manner indicated in the 
question an excellent one, which is also advisable in order that there 
may be equality before the law. The Catholic is not compelled to be- 
come a Protestant, and why should the Protestant be compelled to 
become a Catholic? Whv should Catholicism alone be taugfht? It is 
clear that such a determination would not satisfy the Catholic of the 
islands, because everywhere the Catholic is intransigeant and head- 
strong, and never ceases preaching that liberalism is a sin, without 
seeing that he confounds religion with politics and that he thereby 
declares himself incompatible with liberty and progress, he finding 
himself in his element where absolutism and the magister dixit reign. 
To m}^ mind the said schools should be established without regard to 
the Catholics; for it is just that all should enjoy the same benefits of 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 219 

instruction in their respective religion, since all are to contribute to 
the popular and state burdens. 

18. Will not the fact that parish priests, whoever they may be, will 
have no political functions to perform, and no political influence, and 
must depend on the voluntary contributions of their parishioners for 
their support, very much change the relation of the priest to the 
people ? 

A. Yes, sir; but bearing in mind that the friar is deeply hated, and 
that his presence alone suffices to anger the educated people of the 
country, if the curate is a friar, sooner or later there will be a dis- 
turbance of public order, notwithstanding the new conditions, for a 
special and important circumstance must not be lost sight of. Very 
rare is the Filipino famil}^ that has no cause for complaint against the 
friar, either because he was influential in the deportation or execution 
of some individual thereof, or because it has received some other kind 
of serious ofiense. 

19. What do you think would be the efi'ect of the Government 
expropriating the agricultural property justh^ belonging to the friars, 
-psijing what it is worth, selling it out in small parcels, and using the 
proceeds for a school fund? 

A. The real estate of the friars was illegalh^ secured, as I expect 
will be proved at the proper time by those interested; but supposing 
there are agricultural properties justlv belonging to them, the expro- 
priation to which the question refers would be a special and signal 
favor done by the American Government to the Philippines, which 
would be very grateful for it. Expel the friars; sell the real estate 
thej^ withhold, and I am either seeing visions, or a great step toward 
the peace we all long for will have been taken. 

Jorge Garcia del Fierro. 

NuEVA Caceres, Sejpteiiiber 11^ 1900. 



Office of the United States 
Military Governor in the Philippines, 

Manila, P. Z, May 3, 1900. 
To His Grace, the Eight Reverend P. L. Chapelle, 

Arclibishop of Neio Orleans, Delegate Apostolic to 

Cuba, Porto Rico, cmd the Philipinnes, Manila, P. I. 
Sir: I have the honor to inclose a copy of a letter just received 
from the military governor of the province of Caga3'an, Isabela, and 
Nueva Viscaya, Aparri, P. I., for your information. 
Very respectfullv, 

^ E. S. Otis, 
Major- General, United States Volunteers, Military Governor. 



Office of the Military Governor, 
Provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, and Nueva Viscaya, 

Aparri, Luzon, P. I., Ap)ril 25, 1900. 

The Secretary to the Military Governor 

IN THE Philippines, 

Manila, P. I. 
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the Tarlac arrived here 
on the 21th instant, bringing four Di)minican fathers en route to the 
Batanes Islands. 



220 CHURCH LANDS 11^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

I would respectfully request that no more of these fathers or friars 
be allowed to come to these provinces for the present. There is a 
deep-seated and strong antipathy, distrust of, and dislike for these 
fathers by the native inhabitants, who believe the ^' padres" to be the 
cause of their troubles in the past, and a menace to their progress in 
every way. In my opinion their return here at the present time would 
be a serious mistake, and an incentive to the natives to rise in active 
rebellion. 

The native padres conduct the services, which are well attended, and 
are loved and respected by the people. 

It is not believed here that the dislike to the padres is from the 
insurgent element in these provinces, but from the natives, taken as a 
whole. 

From the date of my arrival in the provinces, in December last, to 
this time, I have yet to hear of a single word in favor of the Spanish 
clergy, and the constant plea and prayer of the people of all the prov- 
inces have been that the friars be not permitted to return to their 
former charges, to which I have made no response, awaiting develop- 
ments. I can not conceive anything which would more speedily 
bring about trouble, dissension, and perhaps revolution, than that of 
reestablishing them in their former positions. 

They had charge of all the churches, convents, and church lands 
along the valley of the Cagayan, and, being supported by the Spanish 
army, dominated the natives in such manner that it is not believed 
to-day that a single one of them would be welcomed back in his former 
parish. 

I have permitted the four friars mentioned to proceed to Batanes 
Islands on the Tarlac. 

I inclose copy of a letter received by me on this subject from Arch- 
bishop Chapelle. 

Very respectfully, 

Charles C. Hood, 
Colonel Sixteenth U. S. Infantry^ Military Governor. 



Pamplona, April 31, 1900. 
To the Politico-Military Governor 

OF THE Valley of the Cagayan: 

The undersigned, the presidente, counselors, and the inhabitants en 
masse of the town of Pamplona, province of Cagayan, Luzon, Philip- 
pine Islands, respectfully, and with the greatest consideration, state to 
you that having been informed creditably of the design of the Spanish 
friars to obtain the return to them of the curacies of these towns from 
which they were expelled by the recent political revolution against the 
Spanish sovereignty and domination in these islands, which had for its 
object the shaking oJff' of the galling and hated 3^oke of the friars, who 
were maintained against the people by the despotic Spanish Govern- 
ment, can not refrain from making a most earnest protest and asking 
you to interpose your valuable influence and authority to" the end that 
these pretensions be rejected by the person called upon to encourage 
Catholicism in this archipelago and watch over the interests of the 
Catholic faith. We also ask that you support the rights of the Philip- 
pine secular clergy, native to tJie country, that they may remain in 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 221 

charge of the parishes from which the Spanish ecclesiastics were 
expelled and of which they have had temporar}^ charge as the pastors 
of our souls since the beginning of the revolution against the sover- 
eignty of Spain and of the friars who were protected by the repre- 
sentatives of that nation in this archipelago. 

For this we appeal to justice and equity of your excellency, whose 
life ma}" God preserve man}" years for the welfare of those you gov- 
ern, that the undying splendor of the Catholic faith we profess may 
be preserved. 

Clemente Mapuraya, and 72 others. 

[First indorsement.] 

Office Military Governor, Second District, 

Department of Northern Luzon, 

Aparri, P. /., May 12, 1900. 

Respectfully forwarded to the secretary to the military governor in 
the Philippines, Manila, P. I. 

Two more friars arrived here to-day en route to Batanes Islands, 
making six in all. In a letter handed me by one of the friars from 
Archbishop Chapelle for perusal, the archbishop says, in effect, that 
only politicians are opposed to the friars. 

I invite attention in this connection to my letter to you of recent 
date, stating that all the people are opposed to their return to this 
valley. From that time to the present 1 have been more firmly con- 
vinced than ever of the sincerity of the people in the matter of the 
return to their parishes and former duties of the friars. 

It would I'eally be well to prevent their return for the present at 
least, when the whole sentiment of the community is against them. 

Charles C. Hood, 
Colonel Sixteenth U. S. Infantry.^ Military GoveT7im\ 



Manila, April 16, 1900. 
Colonel Hood, U. S. A., 

Cmnmanding at Ajparri, P. I. 

Dear Colonel: This note will be handed to you by the Dominican 
fathers whom I am sending to the Batanes Islands with the full 
knowledge and approbation of Major-General Otis. As they will stop 
a couple of days in Aparri, they will do themselves the honor to call 
to present you their respects and to learn from you whether, accord- 
ing to your judgment, it would be well for me to send soon other 
fathers to administer to the spiritual needs of the people within your 
district. 

The insurgents have made war against the religious orders, because 
they felt that wherever their members would have charge of parishes 
they would be absolutely loyal and powerful supporters of American 
authority. No blame can attach to them for having as Spaniards been 
loyal to th^ir country; but now, as a matter of duty, they all feel 
bound to oppose insurrection, to keep the people from entering into 
any blood covenant against us, and in the interest of law, order, and 
of religion to support American authority. The accusations adduced 
against them are the merest pretexts of shrewd and anti-American 
Filipino politicians. 



222 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Bishop Garcia, who is a Franciscan, returned to Cebu latel}^, and 
Colonel Sn3-der showed him some courtesy at the suggestion of General 
Otis, who acted on ni}^ advice. The bishop was received by the people 
with enthusiasm, and his presence there is most beneficial to American 
interests. Some days before the bishop's arrival the president of the 
junta popular, representing the Katipunan Society, told the colonel 
that if the bishop came there would be trouble. The former answered 
that if there was trouble the latter and his few companions would have 
to bear all the responsibility. The result was that these very men 
joined the people in acclaiming the bishop at his coming. 

As you know, it is sufiicient for three or four men to mislead a 
whole town in these islands. I am glad, however, that the mass of 
the people begin to see that the}' have been misled and that American 
officers are not now ready to give credence to the representations made 
to them by wily educated Filipinos who, whilst professing to be 
amigos, would put us Americans out of the country, or cut our throats 
if they could. 

I therefore bespeak for the four fathers who will come to see you a 
kind reception and any courtesy which you will be able to show them. 
The}' are highly educated and most worthy clergymen. 
Your obedient servant, 

P. L. Chapelle, 
Archhishop J^eic Orleans^ 
Delegate Apostolic Cuba^ Porto Rico^ and Philippines. 
A true copy. 

C. L. Beckwith, 
Captain.^ Sixteenth U. S. Infantry^ Acting Adjutant, 



Office of the United States 
Military Governor in the Philippines, 

Manila^ P. Z, Jidy 6^ 1900. 
To the Commanding General, 

Department of Northern Luzon. 

Sir: I have the honor, by direction of the military governor, to 
acknowledge receipt of a communication from the commanding officer, 
second district, of your department, dated April 25 last, informing 
this office of the arrival at Aparri of four Dominican friars, en route 
to the Batanes Islands, and requesting that no more friars be permit- 
ted to go to the provinces within said district, expressing in connection 
his very grave apprehension that trouble, dissension, and perhaps 
revolution would be the result of reestablishing the friars in their for- 
mer positions; also a communication from Pamplona, numerously 
signed by citizens of that place, protesting against the return of the 
friars, which communication was forwarded on May 12 by the com- 
manding officer of the second district of your department, and in 
which he renewed his recommendations of April 25 as to placing a 
prohibition upon the return of friars to their former parishes. 

Replying to these two communications, the military governor directs 
me to state that he is prepared to assure the native citizens of the 
Philippine Islands that the following provision will be embodied in 
an}' form of civil government which may hereafter be established 
in the archipelago: 

As under the Constitution of the United States complete religious 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 223 

freedom is guaranteed, and no minister of religion can be interfered 
with or molested in following his calling in a peaceful and lawful 
manner, and there must be a complete separation of church and state, 
so here the civil government of these islands hereafter to be established 
will give the same security to the citizens thereof, and guarantee that 
no form of religion shall be forced by the government upon any com- 
munity or upon any citizen of the islands; that no minister of religion 
in following his calling in a peaceful and lawful manner shall be inter- 
fered with or molested by the government or any person; that no 
public funds shall be used for the support of religious organization 
or any member thereof; that no official process shall be used to collect 
contributions from the people for the support of any church, priest, 
or religious order; that no minister of religion, b}^ virtue of his being 
a minister, shall exercise anj^ public or governmental office or authority, 
and that the separation of church and state must be complete and entire. 

In pursuance of the policy embodied in the foregoing paragraph, it 
is apparent that congregations, by independent individual action, so far 
as any governmental interference is concerned, may reject any clerg}^- 
man who is not acceptable to the majorit}^ of the communicants of the 
parish, and prevent his ministrations therein b}^ such means as are 
suitable to accomplish the purpose, provided that any action in the 
premises be not accompanied by application of violence. 

You are therefore authorized and requested to communicate to all 
commanding officers the substance of this communication, to the end 
that information may be widely disseminated among the jjeople in 
such a manner as to reach all concerned. 
Very respectfully, 

E. H. Ckowder, 
Lieutenant- Colonel^ Thirty-ninth Infantry^ 

U. /S. v.. Secretary. 



Sto. Domingo, Batanes Islands, 

June 21, 1900. 

Teolilo Coslillejos replies to letter of June 13, 1900, from military 
governor, second district. Department of Northern Luzon, relative to 
friars that have recently landed on above-named islands. Is of the 
opinion that they should be dispensed with until barrio representatives 
assemble and take the matter into consideration. Pending institution 
of a new form of government, can not decide favorable as to their per- 
manent stay. 

[First indorsement.] 

Hdqrs. Second District, Northern Luzon, 

Aparri, P. /., June m, 1900. 
Forwarded to the secretary to the military governor in the Philip- 
pines, Manila, P. I. , requesting instructions. Eight friars have passed 
through here for Batanes Islands. 

I consider it very undesirable that they should remain. 

Charles Hood, 
Colonel Sixteenth Infantry, United States, 

Coiainandina Second District. 



224 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

[Second indorsement.] 

Office Military Governor, 

Manila, F. I. , July 11, 1900. 
Returned to the commanding officer, second district, Department of 
Northern Luzon, whose attention is invited to copy of letter sent to 
commanding general. Department of Northern Luzon, explaining the 
views entertained by the military governor on the subject-matter of 
the within communication. 

You are advised that the effect of the recent order establishing the 
Division of the Philippines and its several departments and districts is 
to supersede the provisions of orders under which you were designated 
"military governor" of certain provinces, and in all matters in which 
you have heretofore acted as such military governor you will hereaf- 
ter act as commanding officer of the second district, Department of 
Northern Luzon. 

E. H. Crowder, 
Lieutenant- Colonel Thirty -ninth Infantry, U. S. Y., 

Secretary. 

[Translation.] 

Tayabas, April 1, 1900. 
To His Reverence, Apostolic Delegate Mons. Sr. P. I. Chapelle: 

The leading men and residents of Tayabas respectfully state to your 
reverence that they declare themselves to be Apostolic Roman Cath- 
olics, and as such do not hate the friars as ecclesiastics; but being fully 
convinced of the injury which they have done the country and which 
they would doubtless still do were they to be returned to the curacies, 
not only as regards public order, but also as regards morality and the 
welfare of the people, they implore your paternal authority not to 
permit the parish of this town to be administered b}" any friar. 

If the charity which we have learned from our holy religion did not 
prohibit us from relating the abuses and crimes committed by those 
ministers of the Lord, we would do so herein as a matter of informa- 
tion, if for no other purpose; but we refrain from so doing, because, 
aside from such an action being contrary to Christian charity, our 
reasons for asking for the exclusion of the friars from the administra- 
tion of the parishes are known to all. 

We must advise your reverence that we make this statement with 
Christian sincerity, not obe^dng any partisan spirit, and we have the sat- 
isfaction of stating that none of the undersigned, and none of the 17,000 
inhabitants, more or less, of this town belongs to the Masonic order. 

May God guard your reverence many years. 

SoFio Alemdt, and others. 

[First indorsement.] 

Office Military Governor, 

Manila, P. L, April 18, 1900. 

Referred to the Rt. Rev. P. L. Chapelle, archbishop of New Orleans 
and apostolic delegate for Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. I 
know nothing of the facts presented in this petition, nor of the char- 
acter of the petitioners. As it appears to be respectable in tone, I 
simply present it in accordance with petitioner's request. 

E. S. Otis, 
Major- General, U. S. Volunteers, Military Governor. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 225 

NuEVA Casceeas, May — , 1900. 
To the Governok-Genekal, 

Military Governor of this Province, 

The local presidente of this city and its municipality and residents 
who sign this have the honor to lay before you, as the representative 
of the American Government of this province, the sincere arid ener- 
getic protest against the return of the vicar and friars to this diocese, 
having in view the establishment of ecclesiastical rules in the same, 
and of which they were deprived by the last revolution against Spain, 
and who had by their acts rendered their remaining not only in these 
towns, but throughout the Philippines, incompatible with the main- 
tenance of their moral and material welfare, as these religionists had 
been and continue to be the cause of the disturbed conditions of the 
country, and which the American authorities are laboring to settle. 

They beg that you will please consider the loyalty of the residents 
of this place and to communicate with the apostolic delegate sent by 
Pope Leo XIII to these islands, that he may take such measures as he 
may deem proper in this question of such vital interest. 

(Eighty-two signatures.) 

[First indorsement.] 

Headquarters Third District, 

Department of Southern Luzon, 

N'ueva Casceres^ P. I. , June 1, 1900. 
Respectfully forwarded to the military governor, Philippine Islands 
(through military channels). 

James M. Bell, 
Brigadier- General, U. S. Yohmteers.^ Commanding. 

[Second indorsement.] 

Hdqrs. Department Southern Luzon, 

Manila, P. Z, Jun^e m, 1900. 
Respectfully forwarded to the secretary to the United States military 
governor in the Philippine Islands. 

J. C. Bates, 

Major- General, TJ. S. Yohinteers, Commanding. 



Office of the United States 
Military Governor in the Philippines, 

Manila, P. I., July 6, 1900. 
To the Commanding General, 

Department of Southern Luzon. 

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of the communica- 
tion of recent date of the president and residents of Nueva Caccras, 
North Camarines, protesting against the return of the vicar and 
friars to that diocese, and representing that any attempt to reestab- 
lish ecclesiastical rules in said diocese or elsewhere in the Philippines 
would result in disturbed conditions which would materially retard 
the pacification of the islands. 

Replying thereto, the military governor directs me to state that he 
is prepared to assure the native citizens of the Philippine Islands thiit 

S. Doc. 190 15 



226 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

the following provision will be embodied in any form of civil govern- 
ment which may hereafter be established in the archipelago. 

As under the Constitution of the United States complete religious 
freedom is guaranteed and no minister of religion can be interfered 
with or molested in following his calling in a peaceful and lawful man- 
ner, and there must be a complete separation of church and state, so 
here the civil government of these islands hereafter to be established 
will give the same security to the citizens thereof and guarantee that 
no form of religion shall be forced by the government upon any com- 
munity or upon any citizen of the islands; that no minister of religion 
in following his calling in a peaceful and lawful manner shall be 
interfered with or molested by the Government or any person; that 
no public funds shall be used for the support of religious organiza- 
tions or any member thereof; that no official process shall be used to 
collect contributions from the people for the support of any church, 
priest, or religious order; that no minister of religion shall exercise 
any public or governmental office or authority; and that the separa- 
tion of church and state must be complete and entire. 

In pursuance of the policy embodied in the foregoing paragraph, it 
is apparent that congregation by independent individual action so far 
as any governmental interference is concerned may reject any clergy- 
man who is not acceptable to a majority of the communicants of the 
parish and prevent his ministrations therein by such means as are suit- 
able to accomplish the purpose, provided that any action taken in the 
•premises be not accompanied by application of violence. 

You are therefore authorized and requested to communicate to all 
commanding officers the substance of this communication to the end 
that information may be widely disseminated among the people in such 
manner as to reach all concerned. 
Very respectfully, 

E. H. Crowdek, 
Lieutenant- Colonel Thirty-ninth Infantry^ U. S.V.^ 

Secretary. 

Copy of the foregoing communication furnished all departmental 
commanders. 



Calamba, p. I., July 17, 1900. 
Hall, Robert, brigadier-general, U. S. Volunteers, commanding 
Second District, Southern Luzon, recommends that letter of the 6th 
iniitant from office United States military governor in matter of reli- 
gious freedom of the citizens be translated into Tagalog and given the 
widest possible circulation. 

[First indorsement.] 

Hdqrs. Department Southern Luzon, 

Manila, P. Z, July m, 1900. 
Forwarded to the adjutant-general, Division of the Philippines. 

J. C. Bates, 

Major- General, U. S. Volunteei's, Commanding. 



1 



CHURCH LANDS ITn^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. '227 

[Second indorsement.] 

Hdqrs. Division of the Philippines. 

Manila, P. /., July 26, 1900. 
To militaiy secretary. 

[Third indorsement.] 

Office U. S. Military Governor in the Philippines, 

Manila, P. Z, July 30, 1900. 
Respectfull}^ returned to the commanding general Department of 
Southern Luzon. While it is not deemed expedient to publish the 
Tagalog translation of the letter of Juh' 6, referred to within, there is 
no objection to that letter receiving suitable circulation among the 
people. Department or district commanders may take appropriate 
action to that end. 

By command of Major-General MacArthur: 

E. H. Crowder, 

Lieutenant- Colonel Thirty-ninth Infantry^ U. S.Y., 

Secretary. 



TESTIMONY OF GENERAL SMITH. 

Judge Taft asks General Smith in relation to condition of forests. 

Professor Worcester. I have alread}" been talking with the Gen- 
eral a little about that in my room, and he says it is a matter of neces- 
sity. This business of burning timber to get a patch to cultivate has 
inflicted heav}" damage, and something ought to be done with a view 
of having a stop put to these depredations of burning timber. 

Judge Taft. I suppose it would be better from what the General 
said to me the other da}^ before making changes of that sort to change 
the government itself, which, as I understood 3^ou, the}^ expect will 
be changed when there is a general system of government adopted for 
the islands. 

General Smith. That is, their idea is that their government remain 
in effect as it is now until some form of government is adopted for the 
entire archipelago. I do not think they would wish to be placed 
under the provisional government adopted to meet the situation exist- 
ing elsewhere. They would not wish on 'their part to be placed on the 
same grade. 

Judge Taft. In other words, 3^ou think the better policy for us to 
pursue is to just treat them as organized separately for the time until 
we can adopt a general system which shall include all the islands. 

General Smith. Yes; and purel}" on the ground of expediency, and 
as a reward for their steadfastness. 

General Wright. There have never been any hostilities in that 
island ? 

General Smith. Yes; there have been three risings altogether among 
the natives, one occurring soon after our arrival and after the provi- 
sional government itself had raised the flag. The provisional govern- 
ment of the natives was formed on the 6th da}^ of November, 1898, 
after having overpowered the Spanish garrisons and obtained a 



228 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

capitulation from the Spanish general who was acting as military gov- 
ernor of the island. The insurgents were then attacking the Spanish 
forces in Iloilo, but the Spanish forces there had still at their disposi- 
tion sufficient gunboats to have made it interesting for the natives of 
Negros, if they had wished to do so. The middle of Februar}^, after 
the taking of Iloilo by the Americans, the people of Negros sent a 
commission here, and after the return of the commission there was a 
rising. This rising was inaugurated by people living in Silay, who 
had come from Molo, Panay, and who had gone over there to live. 
About 28 of them went out with their rifles. This party was subse- 
quently augmented to about 60; they remained perfectly quiet until 
August, 1899, when they began operations which continued until about 
the end of September, when they retired from the island, after losing 
some 39 of their men. On the east coast of Negros nothing was done 
by us at first. No troops were sent nor was any missionary work done 
in that part of Negros. The province on the east coast, known as 
Oriental Negros, was supposed to be under the central government at 
Bacolod; but there had been no communication between the two prov- 
inces from November, 1898, and so, in the process of time, the insur- 
gents of Luzon and Panay were able to get in a certain amount of 
missionary work in Oriental Negros to our disadvantage. In fact, in 
April or May, 1899, the legislative body of Oriental Negros at Duma- 
guete was considering the advisability of adopting the Filipino consti- 
tution as projected by Aguinaldo. Just at that time, the present sec- 
retary of agriculture of Negros, Sr. Juan Araneta, was sent to the 
oriental coast for the purpose of bringing about a better understanding 
between the two provinces of the island. He carried with him a draft 
of the constitution which the people of Occidental Negros were then 
considering at Bacolod, and submitted it to the legislature of Occiden- 
tal Negros at Dumaguete. As the result of Araneta's work, the 
deputies of Oriental Negros declared in favor of the United States 
and sent delegates from Dumaguete, their capital, to what might be 
called the constitutional convention at Bacolod. After the adjourn- 
ment of the convention at Bacolod the delegates from the oriental 
province returned, carrying with them some American flags, which 
they proposed to raise in every pueblo in the province; but when they 
attempted to raise the flag at Bais the people there said to them, ''You 
have been the strongest adherents of Aguinaldo and among the strong- 
est opponents of the Americans, and we can not understand your change 
of heart." A force of about 1,500 men (nearly all bolomen) immedi- 
ately gathered at Bais and Tanpay, and vowed that American flags 
should not float in Oriental Negros, whatever might be done on the 
west coast. In this contingency, Larena, former presidente of the 
oriental province, returned to Bacolod and reported there the condi- 
tion of affairs in his bailiwick. In consequence of the information 
given by him I sent a battalion to Oriental Negros, Lieutenant-Colonel 
JDuboce, First Cavalry Volunteers, commanding. Colonel Duboce 
was able to effectuate, without the shedding of any blood whatsoever, 
the complete dispersion of all insurgent gatherings, and from that 
time down to the present there has never been any disturbance what- 
ever in eastern Negros. The third rising occurred in Valladolid, and 
was the result of work done by the Hongkong junta and emissaries 
from Panay and Luzon. A landing of insurgent troops from Panay 
was effected at Ginigiran, in Negros, on December 6, and on January 
15 the entire force had either surrendered or had been dispersed. 



CHURCH LANDS 1^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 229 

Judge Taft. You have had pretty large forces of ladrones, haven't 
you, in the mountains? 

General Smith. There have been, according to my estimate, from 
1,000 to 1,500 of these people; I mean for the entire island. 

Professor Worcester. When I was there in 1891 there was said to 
be 2,000 in one band up in the mountains. 

General Smith. That is the same part}"; that is about the number. 
Some run it up about as high as 3,000, but I think a conservative esti- 
mate would fix the number at from 1,500 to 2,000. We inherited from 
Spain from 1,000 to 2,000, and, of course, present conditions through- 
out the islands have not tended to diminish that number. 

Judge Taft. Killed a good manj^ ? 

General Smith. About 450. 

Professor Worcester. Where are they making their headquarters 
now? 

General Smith. There is a small band in the northwest of the island 
in and about Escalante and down as far as Saga}^ The band keeps 
high up on the mountain, dividing and scattering along the trails when 
pursued. 

General Wright. Do the}^ raid American posts ? 

General Smith. There has been but one assault on an American 
post in Negros, and that was made by insurgent troops at Ginigaran. 
The Tuisanes confine themselves solel}^ and exclusivel}^ to robbing 
their own people, defenseless barrios, and rich haciendas, but they 
never assault American stations or attack American troops. 

Professor Worcester. Are they back of Dumaguete? 

General Smith. No, sir; that party has gone over the mountain to 
Isabella, into what might be called the Isabella district. 

General Wright. Is it a wild country? 

General Smith. Very wild. 

Professor Worcester. Is the old trail clear? 

General Smith. Yes; the trail along the pass which comes in at Isa- 
bella from Guijulungan is still practicable. With the exception of the 
pass from Yalle Hermosa to Castellano that is the best pass of the 
many passes. 

Professor Worcester. Have the Monteses (so-called wild people of 
Malayan origin in the islands) had anything to do with this Baibailane 
business ? 

General Smith. Many of the Monteses are Baibailanes; in fact, 
nearly all; but all are not lawless. 

Professor Worcester. I never have understood altogether clearly 
the origin of the so-called Baibailanism, and I was wondering how much 
they had to do with that. 

General Smith. Well, Baibailanism is the aboriginal fetishism, more 
or less modified by certain Christian dogmas ingrafted upon it. Papa 
Scio is the head of the Baibailanes. 

Professor Worcester. Is it known where he is holding forth at the 
present time? 

General Smith. He is now in or about Sipala}" and the unknown 
country in southwest Negros. He has been so persistently pursued, 
however, that he never remains long in one place. 

Judge Taft. What do you think of the possibility of ' organizing 
native troops in Negros ? 

General Smith. They have been organized there. 

Judge Taft. How largely ? 



230 . CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, 

General Smith. Two hundred. 

Judge Taft. Have they done well? 

General Smith. They have; they are amenable to drill and disci- 
pline — that is, to a measurable extent. With American troops they 
are effective and eificient as scouts. Operating alone, they can hardly 
be trusted. They are disposed to commit grave abuses on their own 
people. 

Judge Taft. Do you have American officers for them ? 

General Smith. The command of the entire body is under one Amer- 
ican officer. My own idea is that, for the present and for some years, 
the command of them will have to be under an American officer. 

Judge Taft. You think that American captains would be enough to 
give them the courage and the discipline which in a battle is necessary? 

General Smith. A certain proportion of noncommissioned officers 
mixed up with them, or better, a certain proportion of American troops, 
would probably give them the necessary stiffening to make an aggressive 
campaign. Their first impulse, however, is to adopt the Filipino 
method of fighting; that is, to fire and then retire, and keep retiring. 
They do not understand, nor can they ever well be taught, except by 
force of example, the aggressive policy. 

Judge Taft. What General Mac Arthur calls the policy of "shock." 

Professor Moses. Do you find it advisable to have the companies as 
large in these native troops as in the American troops? 

General Smith. A company of 100 men with 1 captain and 3 lieuten- 
ants I think would be about right. 

General Wkight. They, generallv, would be white lieutenants at 
first? 

General Smith. I would begin by selecting men who have the mili- 
tary spirit and letting them know that promotion could and would 
come to them if they, proved deserving. Probably the promotion or 
chance of promotion to lieutenancies would give them the necessary 
stimulus to do good work. 

Professor Worcester. But suppose 3^our captain was killed or seri- 
ously hurt; the natural sequence would be that he would succeed the 
captain. 

General Smith. Yes, but of course no promotion of a native should 
be made to a lieutenancy until he has perfectly demonstrated his ability 
to command. 

Judge Ide. What kind of service have those native troops been used 
for? 

General Smith. They have been used in skirmishes and engagements, 
but nearly always with American troops. 

Professor Worcester. Have you had trouble with their committing 
abuses when they were off on their scouting operation ? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

General Wright. You have got that checked and under control? 

General Smith. Yes, sir; I have now. Originally the idea was to let 
them operate alone for scouting purposes, but we found that they were 
the worst enemies of their own people and that they committed the 
most shocking abuses. The}^ would enter a house and take what pro- 
visions they wanted without paying for them, and practically whatever 
they required. They had no respect for the rights of the citizen, so 
that now the order in Negros is that no scouts be sent out except under 
the command of an American officer or noncommissioned officer with 
a certain proportion of American troops, generally not less than 6. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 231 

Judge Ide. Who do they skirmish with — with the ladrones? 

General Sjvhth. With ladrones and insurgents. There have been in 
all three engagements with insurgents. With ladrones there have 
been many. The heaviest engagement with ladrones took place in 
July, 1899, at Bobong, where the}' numbered 800 bolomen and some- 
thing like 30 rifles. They were attacked by 50 American troops in 
the early morning. In that engagement it was doubtful for sonae 
minutes whether the American troops would be successful or be 
destroyed. They were ultimately successful and killed 116 o:^ the 
ladrone or Tulisane element. 

Judge Ide. How long ago? 

General Smith. That was in July; I think about July 13. 

Judge Ide. This year? 

General Smith. No; 1899. They were attacked in their village. 
They were the people who destro3"ed these haciendas. Papa Scio, 
immediatel}^ after our occupation of Negros, commenced missionary 
work among the employees of various haciendas, exciting them to the 
idea of destroying the property and reducing the haciendas to their 
original condition — that is, to a state of nature. He didn't wish any- 
more sugar planted, neither did he wish any but pure-blooded Fili- 
pinos to live in the island. As a result of his propaganda the laborers 
on haciendas destroyed the haciendas first, and then went out to join 
Papa Scio's Baibailanes. The force at Bobong numbered 800, com- 
posed of Baibailanes, robbers, and the laborers who had been seduced 
into joining them. 

Professor Moses. They were attacked b}^ 50 ? 

General Smith. Fifty Americans. At the first onslaught on this 
village these people poured out of their houses. They were taken by 
surprise, but so much did they outnumber the detachment that they 
soon got confidence and came on bravely enough. Fifteen Americans 
had gone into the town over a narrow footbridge spanning a ravine; 
but so fiercely were they met that they began to retreat. One of the 
corporals was cut and stabbed 36 times and then the detachment started 
to retreat; but the}" never got across the bridge. The present Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Byrne stopped them and forced them back into the town 
to renew the attack. And in the meantime other reenforcements came 
across the bridge to aid. The engagement was so close that drilled, 
disciplined men like a first sergeant were forced to fire from the hip — 
there was no time for anything else. One soldier is said to have killed 
three men in this last charge. 

Judge Ide. What kind of services have they had to render the last 
six or eight months, those native police? 

General Smith. They have been doing almost exclusively scout duty, 
in conjunction with American troops. 

Judge Taft. Are they pretty efiicient scouts? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Taft. They chase the people into the mountains ? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Taft. And get information ? 

General Smith. Yes, sir; they get information and pursue ladrones. 
They are able to approach them much nearer than our troops, who, are 
recognized at a long distance. 

General Wright. It is a pretty hard job to exterminate these rob- 
ber bands? 



232 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

General Smith. Yes, sir; there are whole villages composed of banded 
robbers. 
Judge Taft. And they always have been there ? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

General Wright. There is only one wa}^ to do, and that is to move 
them out into some other island. 

General Smith. Well, since that subject has been mentioned, I 
might say that that is the only solution of the difficult3^ Once a rob- 
ber always a robber is the rule with these people. 

General Wright. They are simply whole families that for genera- 
tions have been nothing but robbers, and the}^ do not know any other 
mode of life. 

General Smith. And they are frequently led by educated men who 
have become outlaws. 

Judge Taft. Have you lost any by desertion from your native 
troops ? 

General Smith. No, sir; among the native police we have never lost 
a man by desertion, and they have been submitted to very potent 
temptations and very powerful influences. 

Judge Taft. Have you lost any of your Government troops ? 

General Smith. No; we have not lost any American troops. There 
have been some of them that have disappeared. There is one who is 
said to have deserted to the insurgents, but we are not certain whether 
he has deserted with the idea of going back to the United States, or 
whether he deserted with the idea of going out and robbing the 
natives, or whether he joined the insurgents — we do not know. As he 
deserted several months ago and we have not heard from him, we have 
come to the conclusion that he either deserted with the idea of going 
to the United States or Hongkong, or that the ladrones disposed of 
him. 

Professor Worcester. What are these bad towns of which you 
speak? 

General Smith. Well, for instance, the pueblo of Murcia. 

Professor Worcester. In what part of the island is that? 

General Smith. Within 15 miles of the coast, and east of Bacolod. 
It was originally a town composed of men who had been tried for 
various offenses, from petty larceny to murder. They settled in that 
pueblo (as far as 1 can learn from residents at Bacolod), where the 
officials and justices of the province of Bacolod protected them. If 
any of them got arrested for any offense, it was seen to that he either 
escaped or, when tried, that he was acquitted. Subsequentl}^ Murcia 
became a full-fledged pueblo, having its own administrative offices, 
and, of course, the same course was pursued. Of course, there were 
and are some good people in Murcia. 

Professor Worcester. When was that change, from a barrio to a 
pueblo ? 

General Smith. During the Spanish occupation, I think. At an}^ 
rate, prior to the coming of the Americans to the island. 

Professor Moses. You say that there are good people in Murcia? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Professor Moses. Do they manifest any sympathy with the United 
States, or what is their attitude in respect to the people? 

General Smith. The attitude of the people in Negros who have 
something to lose is favorable to the United States. Of course, way 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 233 

down deep in their hearts is the sympath}^ of race for those who are 
strug'gling — that is, they realize that it is not for their best interests to 
stand alone, and the}^ realize that they have everything to lose by the 
continuance of these hostilities; but, at the same time, they have a 
certain amount of sj^mpath}^ for a true insurgent, and I venture to say 
that if any chief or chieftain of known renown came into Negros 
to-morrow that the hearts of the people would go out to him. 
Although they realize that the insurrection is a mistake, they have the 
human sympathy which all have for their own blood battling in a 
wrong cause. That was the thing which many military" officers in 
charge of stations could not understand or did not appreciate. They 
expected that these men, with these sympathies (probabl}^ having 
brothers or relatives in the field), would not only openly but aggres- 
siA^ely espouse the American cause. 

General Weight. It would be ver}^ unnatural for them to. 

General Smith. They are in favor of the United States. T won't 
say that the}^ would be offensive partisans against the insurgent gov- 
ernment, however. 

Judge Taft. But they would be glad to have it over? 

General Smith. Thej^ would be glad to have the thing over, with the 
United States in control. 

Judge Taft. As w^e expressed it in our message which we sent to 
the President, at his request, a very large majorit}- of the people of 
these islands long for peace and were willing to accept the sovereignty 
of the United States. 

General Smith. That is it. 

Judge Taft. Now, don't you think that is a fair statement of it? 

General Smith. That is perfect; at least, so far as Kegros is concerned. 
They are absoluteh^ anxious to see these hostilities cease and that some 
form of government be established. Of course, there is this to be 
taken into consideration also, in judging their attitude, that many of 
these men can not be aggressive against the insurgents: First, because 
of the sentiment; and, second, because of the lurking suspicion in 
their minds that we are not going to stay. The^^ reason it out that if 
the}^ are not demonstrativeh^ American and we don't stay, they can 
patch up matters with Aguinaldo & Co. If we do sta}^ and the insur- 
rection is definitely stamped out there will be plent}^ of time to make 
their peace with us. 

Professor Worcester. I notice the town of Murcia is one of the 
inland towns. Most of 3^our towns are coast towns; how is it with 
them ? 

General Smith. The}^ are law abiding. 

Professor Worcester. Would there be any difficult}^ in a man 
getting on a horse and riding around the island I 

General Smith. I have been over a considerable portion of it; but 
never around it, except in a boat. 

Professor AVorcester. How^ long does it take to get around the 
island? 

General Smith. It would take about fifteen da^^s to go from Jimi- 
maylan to Dumaguete, taking the coast road and proceeding without 
delay. I would not undertake the trip in less than fifteen daA^s — that 
is, considering the condition of the roads and the number of streams. 
It would take about a month to go all around the island, following the 
coast. 



234 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Professor Worcester. How are the Spaniards regarded there, men 
who used to have extensive sugar plantations; can they return and 
work their plantations ? 

General Smith. Yes; except those plantations which are near the 
mountains. 

Professor Worcester. How about Bago and Dumaguete? 

General Smith. There is no trouble on the eastern coast at all. 

Professor Worcester. How about Montenegro ? 

General Smith. The Montenegro family was very wealthy and had 
money loaned out. Of course, it was a mortal offense with some of 
those people to attempt to collect a dollar, and his attempt to collect 
what was due him brought about the assault which was made on him. 
But that was before any Americans had gone to Oriental Negros. 

Judge Taft. As to the religious question. You are a member of 
the Catholic Church? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Taft. Who are administering the sacraments and performing 
religious functions in the island now? 

General Smith. Native clergy, with probably one exception. 

Judge Taft. Are all the parishes full; have they priests in every 
parish ? 

General Smith. No, sir; there is a great lack of priests. 

Judge Taft. Can you give any idea of how many priests are now in 
Negros ? 

General Smith. There are at least [counting] five. They need at 
least forty. 

Judge Taft. How do you think they would receive American priests 
there? 

General Smith. They would be well received; their methods are 
altogether different from those of the native clergy; the native clergy 
are all arbitrary. They have been accustomed to control. They are 
educated men, and the rank and file with whom they deal are not. 

Judge Taft. They are educated? 

General Smith. Yes, sir; they are. 

Judge Taft. And I suppose they follow in the footsteps of the friars 
who were before them? 

General Smith. Yes, sir; of course the};^ exercise no civil functions 
whatever now — that is, the natives; they have nothing to do with the 
civil. But so far as religious matters are concerned, the}^ exercise the 
same religious functions as did the friars. 

General Wright. The native clergy, as a rule, are very sympathetic 
with the revolution, aren't they? 

General Smith. I think I don't trespass when I say almost to a man. 

General Wright. I can understand very readily why they are. It 
would not be human nature if they were not. 

Judge Taft. They are very anxious to retain the authority they 
have had? 

General Wright. That is the whole thing. 

General Smith. There is not any question but what that is so. 

Judge Taft. Do you think it would be safe for the friars to go back? 

General Smith. It might be possible to secure their safety, of course, 
by means of troops. I should not like to take the responsibility of 
sending them to any of those towns unannounced or unprotected, or 
without some understanding. 



CHURCH LAIRDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 235 

Judge Taft. Do 3-011 realh^ think there is a popular feeling against 
them ? 

General Smith. There is a popular feeling against them. 

Judge Taft. Due to the fact that they have exercised what has been 
regarded as political power ? 

General Smith. Due in a large measure, according to my under- 
standing, that they were practicall}^ the civil power. 

Judge Taft. And represented Spain? 

General Smith. Represented Spain. In other words, by virtue of 
the civil power which they have exercised, they were unable to give 
that sympathy and that merciful interposition which would have 
otherwise fallen to their lot as priests. 

Judge Taft. They were made responsible for everj^thing that went 
on in the way of civil oppression ? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Taft. I have understood, by examining the archbishops and 
the bishops of the church and the heads of the religious orders, that 
the captain-general, or the governor-general, whatever he was called 
here, was in the habit of using the friars for obtaining information, 
and it was understood that every charge against a person in a partic- 
ular town was presented to the friars, and if ultimately the civil 
authorities dealt severely with the person in question it was charged 
by the popular opinion and suspicion to the enmit}" of the friar himself. 

General Sishth. Oh, yes; that is unquestionable. That was the ori- 
gin in a large degree of the deep-seated and, I might almost say, undy- 
ing animosity of the people toward them. There were other things, 
of course. 

Judge Taft. But that was the chief ? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Taft. The other things probably would not be mentioned if 
this had not existed? 

General Smith. No, sir; never would be mentioned. And the other 
things were certainly not the rule; they were the exceptional instance 
which, occurring in a religious body or a religious confraternity, 
reflected on the entire community. 

Judge Taft. And was made the text of an attack upon the entire 
body, because of its being so much opposed to the menbers of the body. 

General Smith. That was used as an additional argument. They 
would pick out an isolated case or they would pick out three or four 
friars, and abuses that had been committed by them, and represent 
them as types of the religious community to which they belonged. 
Of course, there were man}- things that should not have occurred. 

Judge Taft. What bishopric was Negros in? 

General Smith. In the bishopric of Jaro, I think. 

Judge Taft. Atlloilo? 

General Smith. Yes. 

Professor Worcester. What sort of a municipal government has 
been established in Negros? 

General Smith. The municipal government that has been established 
there is a government that is composed of the presidente of the town, 
a justice of the peace, and six con.^ejeros from the pueblo, with one 
delegate additional from each barrio in the jurisdiction of the place. 
The pueblo corresponds ahiiost to our counties. 

Professor Worcester. Did the delegates and consejeros have the 
same functions in the council? 



236 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

General Smith. Yes, sir; when the council of the pueblo met for 
the purpose of discussing municipal business. That is, the delegates 
represented the barrios in the municipal council; otherwise, the entire 
pueblo money would be devoted simpl}^ to improvements of the 
^'casco" (or body of the pueblo), to the detriment of the outljdng 
villages. 

Professor Wokcestee. We have had that provision in mind in 
forming the municipal law, and we have also provided that each coun- 
cilor shall be placed in charge of a barrio; where the number of coun- 
cilors is larger, that the}^ shall be grouped into districts, and he shall 
be empowered to appoint a man in each one of those barrios. 

General Smith. That is probably the better plan. It is very diffi- 
cult to encounter men of sufficient understanding in the barrios that 
are located near the mountains. 

Professor Worcester. How is the municipal government working 
as a matter of fact'^ Are they getting sufficient funds for carrying on 
the affairs of the town comfortably ? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. This year the government has been sup- 
ported since the 6th day of November down to the present time, and 
has a surplus in the treasury of probabl}^ 135,000, and that with 
three months of grace which was given for the collection of cedulas. 
The grace does not expire until the latter part of November. 

Professor Worcester. They have restored the cedula tax? 

General Smith. There is a cedula tax of $3 a head, and the women 
are exempted, and those under 18 years of age. 

Professor Worcester. What age do they hold that a man begins 
to pa}^ it? 

General Smith. Eighteen years. 

Professor Worcester. What other tax has been used? Have the 
funds of the municipality raised there been expended there, or turned 
into some general treasury and reimbursed ? 

General Smith. The cedulas are issued by the central government 
to the presidente of the town, to the extent of his bond. He collects 
the cedulas. He must account for every cedula which he has received. 
If it is burned, or lost, or otherwise destroyed or disposed of, or sold, 
nevertheless he must pay for it. They are all numbered and he must 
account for every number, either with the money or the cedula itself. 
Of the moneys that are collected, one-third is devoted to municipal pur- 
poses, and two-thirds of it is sent to the central government. 

Professor Worcester. That money raised for the municipal treasury 
stays in the town ? 

General Smith. Yes; it is administered from the town. 

Judge Taft. How much do you raise for Negros ? 

General Smith. The income, up to the present time, has been about 
$140,000, Mexican, from cedulas and revenues from the forests, and 
what corresponds to our license tax. 

Professor Moses. These cedulas correspond to what? 

General Smith. They correspond practically to our poll tax. The 
original idea was to devote that fund entirely to schools. It would 
bareh^ put the schools into good condition. 

Professor Moses. Do 3"ou find any objection to that form of taxation, 
cedula taxes? 

General Smith. No, sir; I think that every man ought to pa}^ a head 
tax to some amount; whether it is excessive or not is another matter, 
especially if that tax is to be used in furthering free education. 



CHURCH LANDS I:N^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 237 

Judge Taft. What do you say to the feeling of the people with 
respect to the land tax ? 

General Smith. Of the people I can not say; of the property owners 
I can sa}^ that they are reluctant to have it. 

Judge Taft. But they recognize it as a necessity ? 

General Smith. Yes, sir; I found great difficulty, up to the time of 
my departure, in forcing upon them the idea of proportionally assum- 
ing their fair burden of the government. As it now stands, prac- 
ticall}^ the entire burden of the government falls upon the poor man, 
who has nothing, and the rich man, who has everything, has but little 
to pa}^ Of course, he pays the cedula tax for all his laborers, who 
seldom repay it religiously; but he charges it up against them and 
uses the claim as a whip to keep them in order and in his emplo3\ 

Judge Ide. Are those large property owners mostly Spaniards or 
Filipinos ? 

Judge Taft. Hacienderos? 

General Smith. They are mostly Filipinos, of the mestizo type. In 
this subject of taxation it must be remembered that they pay on their 
sugar (which is almost the sole profit of Negros) 16^ cents for every 
picul that leaves the island; that amounts to $320,000 a year in pros- 
perous years. 

Judge Ide. Is all that export tax? 

General Smith. Yes, sir; an export tax and the harbor tax. 

Judge Taft. Is that levied by the assembly ? 

General Smith. The United States Government gets it. 

Judge Taft. That is, under the general laws ? 

General Smith. The United States gets it, I believe, under the gen- 
eral laws. 

Professor Moses. It comes into the insular treasury ? 

General Smith. Into the custom-house at Iloilo, I believe, and cap- 
tain of the port's office. 

Judge Ide. At the present price of sugar and its cost of production 
in Negros, is that a highly profitable industry? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Ide. So that they could stand the land taxation and still leave 
a business profit? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Professor Moses. What about the continuance of the export duty; 
do you think it advisable? 

General Smith. No, sir. 

Professor Moses. We have got to cut it off, then ? 

General Smith. That is my idea, that when the Government is firmly 
established here that tax ought to be taken away in order to release 
the producer of a burden which he ought not to bear. 

Judge Ide. And have a land tax to take the place of it? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Ide. What is done for schools there; have j^ou any teachers 
of English? 

General Smith. We have teachers of English practically in every 
station where we have American troops. They are soldiers. 

Professor Worcester. Are the people anxious to learn English? 

General Smith. They are. We have been besieged by various 
schools for professors of English. They organized there an institution 
of what they call the "segunda ensenanza," a higher education; but 
they have been unable to get a professor of English yet. 



238 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

tTudge Ide. What is done in the schools about religious instruction? 

General Smith. Religious instruction does not form any part of the 
curriculum. 

Judge Taft. Do they have religious instruction before or after the 
schools ? 

General Smith. They have some instruction in some of the primary 
schools in the catechism. 

Judge Taft. That is, the priests come? 

General Smith. No, the teachers. The civil government, prior to 
our coming, decreed the separation of church and state. 

Judge Ide. That is the law they enacted themselves? 

General Smith. Yes, sir; they have decreed the separation of church 
and state. 

Judge Ide. And would the public sentiment among the people 
warrant the entire elimination of any religious instruction from the 
schools ? 

General Smith. That is hard to say, and the reason it is hard to say 
is that on that subject they preach one doctrine and then do exactly 
the opposite. 

Judge Ide. Suppose that they had opportunity for religious instruc- 
tion before the school hour, or after the school hour, for those who 
wished to receive it, how would that do ? 

General Smith. I think that would be sufficient. 

Judge Ide. I mean from the priests. 

General Smith. I think that would be sufficient. 

Professor Worcestek. What has been your experience with their 
central legislative body — what sort of work does it do, as a matter of 
fact ? 

General Smith. The men of the advisory council are not men who 
understand the artificial drafting of laws. They understand what is 
for the benefit of the country, but when it comes to putting it into words 
and sentences, they find some difficulty in accomplishing their purpose; 
not more so, however, than our own legislators, I think. 

Judge Taft. Are they orators? Do they talk much? 

General Smith. They do not talk so much, but sometimes they talk 
with a good deal of force. They get into squabbles among themselves. 

Judge Taft. Are they politicians ? 

General Smith. Yes. 

Judge Taft. Are they as much politicians as the Tagalogs ? 

General Smith. I think it is in the entire race — diplomacy and 
political manipulation. 

Judge Taft. You said the other day that you thought the Visayan 
had a much more reliable character than the Tagalog. 

General Smith. That is my opinion, although I may be doing an 
injustice to the Tagalog, because I lived here at the time of high ten- 
sion between the two peoples; we wxre in actual hostilities and our 
experience with the Tagalogs had been such as to produce strong 
prejudice. My experience with the Visayans has been to the contrary. 
In nineteen months I never had but two men break their word of 
honor; men kept their word even where the}^ were to come back for 
punishment after being allowed to visit their homes. 

Judge Taft. What kind of courts do you have in Negros ? 

General Smith. We have a court there that is composed of men in 
whom I have the most complete confidence as to learning and as to 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 239 

honesty. But there is but little judicial material. In case of death 
or disabilit}^ it would be hard to fill a vacancy in the court. 

Judge Taft. That is, you have got all in that court that can be 
found in the islands. What do j^ou think would be the effect of 
appointing American judges? 

General Smith. I would approve of a mixture. 

Judge Taft. That is, you would prefer not to have a rule as to 
American judges"^ 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Ide. How many courts of first instance are there in the island 
of Negros? 

General Smith. There are three judges that are assigned to dis- 
tricts — the district of the north, of the south, and the oriental dis- 
trict. The oriental district comprises all of Oriental Negros, or what 
was formerly the province of Oriental Negros. 

Judge Ide. How man}^ provinces are there in the island? 

General Smith. Two original provinces — Oriental Negros and the 
province of Occidental Negros. The last has been divided into two 
judicial districts or departments. The court sits in banc for the pur- 
pose of hearing appeals. 

Judge Ide. Are those judges all natives? 

General Smith. Yes. 

Judge Taft. What are their names ? 

General Smith. Estanislao Yusay. 

Judge Taft. Is he a full-blooded Yisaj^an ? 

General Smith. I think he is of mixed blood. Yecentes Hilado, 
Yicente Jocson. 

Professor Worcestek. What is Luzuriaga doing down there now ? 

General Smith. He is auditor of the island. 

Professor Worcester. What sort of an official does he make? 

General Smith. He is one of the ablest men in the islands. He is 
an able man; he understands finance. 

Judge Taft. What kind of a department governor would he make ? 

General Smith. According to my idea, a splendid one. 

Professor Worcester. Is he showing himself to be an honest man ? 

General Smith. In this administration, perfectl}^ so. 

Professor Worcester. Has he any back history that is against him? 

General Smith. It is said he has. 

Professor Worcester. It is prett}' hard to find a man that has not. 

General Smith. I think that he bore the same relation to the Span- 
ish officials as other men did in the islands. I judge that both from 
what has been charged against him and from what I know myself. 
Under the Spanish administration, as far as Negros was concerned, 
to procure right and justice there was only one wa}" of doing it, and 
from that habit many were probably led to procuring injustice in the 
same way. 

Judge Taft. When kissing comes by favor, wh}^ 

General Smith. So far as my connection with him is concerned, he 
has been scrupulously honest, to the dividing of a cent. He has made 
an excellent auditor. I do not think that in ni}" own country there 
could be found an auditor that was more careful and more painstaking 
in investigating accounts and refusing pajmient unless it was abso- 
lutely clear, from the letter of the law, that payment should be made — 
that is, if they failed to get into their laws what thej^ intended, that 



240 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

did not cut any figure with him. He did just exactly what the law 
said — nothing' more nor less. 

Judge Ide. Is he the auditor for the whole island? 

General Smith. Yes, sir; for all insular expenses. 

Professor Worcester. Who is j^our civil governor? 

General Smith. Melecio Severino. 

Professor Worcester. What sort of a man is he? 

General Smith. Melecio Severino and his whole family belonged 
originally to what is known as the Insurgent Party; in fact, two of 
his nephews were concerned in the first rising in Negros, and they 
have been anxiously sought for ever since. He was elected by the 
popular vote^by 28 votes plurality. 

Judge Taft. What did the vote run up to? 

General Smith. Five thousand, on less than a week's registration. 
I think there were fully 15,000 or 20,000 votes on the island; that is, 
with the educational and property qualifications. Severino, during 
his term of office as governor, has acted consistently. He has been 
energetic; he has worked hard for the people, and he has tried to save 
the poor people from oppression and abuses wherever he could. He 
has visited nearly all the towns, not once, but oftener, as occasion 
demanded, and I am perfectly satisfied with his administrative capacity. 

Judge Ide. If there was a reformed legal procedure so that cases 
could be tried with expedition as they are in the United States, would 
there be any difficulty in having all the work of the courts of first 
instance done by one judge holding sessions in the different provinces or 
localities ? 

General Smith. At present there would be difficulty, and until the 
lines of communication are better, it would be impossible, even in the 
future, except at a very large expense to the island. 

Judge Ide. There is difficulty of getting from one locality to 
another, and the expense would be great? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Ide. What are the means of communication? 

General Smith. Water communication, principally. 

Judge Ide. Is there a regular water communication ? 

General Smith. No, sir; steamers touch at all the ports (except three) 
only when it pleases their fancy or the trade compels. 

Judge Ide. How much of a trip is it from Bacolod to Dumaguete? 

General Smith. It is quite expensive and costs about |34. 

Professor Worcester. Is there any government launch capable of 
doing that? 

General Smith. There is a government launch, but it is practically 
a commissary boat; it is used almost exclusively in delivering commis- 
sary supplies. 

Professor Worcester. Have you any other men down there of 
Luzuriaga's caliber? 

General Smith. Leandro Locson, secretary of the interior, a true 
patriot and an able, honest man. Juan Araneta, secretary of agri- 
culture, who has the method of the dictator; but, in all my experience 
with him, I found him to be perfectly honest and perfectly straight- 
forward, and very industrious and energetic. Agostin Montella, the 
treasurer, Demetrio Larena, secretary of public instruction, and 
Dromcid Mapa are also very good men. 

Professor W^orcester. The Araneta family is a very influential 
familv there? 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 241 

General Smith. Yes, sir; but as a family it is more influential in 
lloilo. 

Professor Worcester. Is Juan Aran eta the man that was head of 
the military department there under the provisional government? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Professor Worcester. He carried a bolo on both shoulders for a 
while ? 

General Smith. No; he was one of the two men that I absolutely 
relied on, and I have never found fault with. In the beginning I relied 
upon two men absolutely and implicitly; one of them was Araneta. 
Even when letters were placed in my hands purporting to be signed 
b}^ Araneta (and of a highly revolutionary character), I still retained 
my confidence in him, and I was always glad that I did, because 1 soon 
discovered that the letters had been written by the very insurgents who 
had gone out from Salay. Salay was the seat of the first disturbance, 
and they cut the telegraph wire after we arrived, and said that they 
would not raise the flag. Araneta sent them word that unless they 
raised the flag and restored the telegraph wire by the next morning he 
would reduce the town to ashes. Well, it is needless to say they 
restored the wire, and there was no friction. 

Judge Taft. If you wanted to bring one of them up here to assist 
the central government, which one should you take ? 

General Smith. If it is for legislative duty, I should take Luzuriaga. 

Judge Taft. This proposition has been made: That the form of gov- 
ernment ultimately should be a mixed form like that of Porto Rico, in 
which there should be a popular assembly, one branch of legislative 
power, and a legislative council to be appointed by the governor, con- 
sisting half of Filipinos and half of Americans. Now, suppose you 
wished to get a Yisayan representative for the legislative council, 
would you take Luzuriaga? 

General Smith. As the best all round man, yes. 

Professor Worcester. Do you know personally anything about 
Mapa, over at lloilo ? 

General Smith. Yes, sir; he is not a resident of Negros. 

Professor Worcester. I know he is not a resident, but I did not 
know but what you might have some knowledge of him personally. 

General Smith. I have. 

Professor Worcester. What is your impression of him? 

General Smith. Next to Arellano, I consider him the ablest man in 
the islands. 

Judge Taft. He has been a bit doubtful in his allegiance? 

General Smith. He is a man of honor, I think. There is no ques- 
tion that even to-day he is simply submitting to the inevitable and that 
he still believes in independence for his people. But I believe him to 
be honest in his opinions. He is a man of lofty ideas, of lofty senti- 
ments; of course his education and all that sort of thing would lead 
him to hope for, nay to believe in, the practicability of nationality for 
the people. By his own elevated station, as an able and learned man, 
he judges of the capabilities and natural abilities of all his countiy men. 

Judge Taft. Is he a practical man ? 

General Smith. He is a practical lawyer. How far he may be prac- 
tical in adopting legislation for executive or administrative purposes, 
I can not say; but he is a practical law3xr and, next to Arellano, I 
consider him the ablest lawyer in the islands. 

S. Doc. 190 16 



242 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Judge Taft. He would be a good man for the supreme court? 

General Smith. Unquestionably. 

Judge Taft. Didn't the ujilitary governor offer him a position 
through Arellano? 

Professor Worcestee. I don't know. Arellano told us he had been 
in negotiations with him. 

Judge Taft. Is he a man of wealth ? 

General Smith. He was. He was a man of independent position, 
and I think he is yet. 

Professor Worcester. Do you know the record of Melessa since he 
returned from his short service on the supreme court up here? 

General Smith. I have never taken much stock in Melessa. The 
old gentleman is unquestionably a man of great and very powerful 
influence, but I believe he aids the insurgent cause, as far as it may be 
safe, and that his whole heart is with the insurrectionary movement. 
I don't think he looks on it as a lost cause. 

Judge Taft. That is, the father? 

General Smith. I don't know whether he is the father or not. I 
believe he is, however. 

Professor Worcester. It is the father. I know there is a father 
who had property. 

General Smith. He is immensely wealthy. My judgment upon the 
Melessas should not be given any great amount of weight, because I 
have not been thrown into intimate enough contact with them, and I 
have learned that it is very unsafe to take rumors, statements, or appar- 
ently credible evidence, without actual experience with the men them- 
selves. I had veiy little experience with old man Melessa. 

Judge Taft. How much experience have you had with Mapa? 

General Smith. I have met him now and then, sociall}^ and had 
opportunities to talk with him. 

General Wright. Do you speak Spanish? 

General Smith. Enough to get along. I was finalh^ able to dispense 
with an interpreter except in matters which required delicac}^ I was 
able to get along with them all and understand what they said, and 
they seemed to understand me. 

Professor Worcester. Did you have any trouble in finding honest 
officials ? 

General Smith. It is the weak spot, and will be the weak spot, in all 
these municipal governments. When you get a man that is ready and 
able, why, he won't have much respect for honest methods. At least, 
that was the experience we have had with many presidentes. 

Professor Moses. You spoke a moment ago, General, of the funds 
of the island going into the United States Treasuiy. I supposed the 
insular treasury got them; that is, the export duty? Is there any 
other money now going out of the island into the insular treasury? 

General Smith. I meant that the export tax and harbor dues did not 
go into the treasury of Negros Island. The identification cedula or 
peseta cedula is the only tax which is collected by the militaiy power 
in Negros. The export tax and harbor dues are, of course, collected 
at Iloilo. 

Professor Moses. The identification cedula is collected in addition 
to the other? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Professor Moses. Then is the old cedula tax modified? 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 2.1:3 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Professor Worcester. Do the}^ raise among themselves an}" special 
taxes? Do they have an3'thing corresponding with the old road tax? 

General Smith-. No, sir; there is the cedula tax, which corresponds 
to our poll tax, and also the patente tax, which corresponds to our 
license tax. There are no taxes especially collected for road purposes. 
Once collected, the money is set apart for specific purposes by appro- 
priation bills. 

Professor Worcester. Now, these cedula taxes are usually indus- 
trial taxes ? 

General Smith. The patente tax and some of the pueblo taxes (such 
as the tax on tuba, on fish, corals, etc.) are essentially industrial taxes. 
Just before I left a land tax was adopted in Negros, but the tax on 
land was so disproportionate to what it should have been that I 
returned it to the advisory council without approval and recommend- 
ing that the tax on land be increased. 

Judge Taft. How much did they impose ? 

General Smith. They imposed, I think, about ^2 on a thousand. 
No, it was even less than that. I estimated that, under the proposed 
law, the whole tax would be about ^30,000 on a total valuation of the 
island of $30,000,000. I therefore returned the bill disapproved. 

Judge Taft. It was an ad valorem tax ? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Ide. Did you control their legislation? 

General Smith. JBy veto. 

Judge Ide. I mean otherwise; did you practicalh^ control it? 

General Smith. No, sir. 

Professor Worcester. Did 3'ou have occasion to use the veto with 
a good deal of f requeue}"? 

General Smith. I used it sparingly at first. In cases where I saw 
there would be no substantial injury done to the public, I sometimes 
approved defective laws, at the same time pointing out the defect. 
When the operation of such laws disclosed the defects, as prophesied, 
a certain amount of respect was given my forecasts and I was enabled 
to use the veto power more vigorously. Where any injury was likely 
to ensue to the public, I always used the veto privilege unhesitatingly. 
I think probably I vetoed about one-third of the number of bills 
presented for approval. 

Professor Worcester. Didn't you find that you could, to some 
considerable extent, control them in the way that you have mentioned? 

General Smith. Yes. 

Judge Ide. That is what I meant; I didn't mean whether you used 
a strong hand with them, but whether you used it in that way. 

General Smith. Yes, sir; they were very amenable to advice and 
counsel, except where there was some question that was purely politi- 
cal. If there was a difference between the political factions, they were 
not disposed to accept any advice which would result to the political 
benefit of an opponent. 

Judge Taft. They didn't see any use of having power if they did 
not exercise it? 

General Smith. That was about the measure of it, especially against 
a political adversary. 

Judge Ide. Suppose some measure was important and ought to be 
adopted, did you take some means of calling that to their attention? 



244 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

General Smith. Generally b}^ messages. Gambling was a pet vice 
and had reached huge proportions; 3^et, when their attention was 
called to it in a message, gambling was at once prohibited under a 
penalty of at least ^500 fine; even the sale of playing cards is 
forbidden. 

Judge Taft. How did it work ? 

General Smith. It has repressed gambling. They may gamble on 
the sly in private houses, but gambling as a public vice has ceased to 
exist. The}^ discussed very soberly the question of licensing gam- 
bling and limiting it to certain days, but they finally came to the con- 
clusion to prohibit it altogether. 

Professor Moses. In case of the establishment of a civil govern- 
ment, should the absolute veto be held by the governor? 

General Smith. The absolute veto — that depends upon the composi- 
tion of your legislative body. If you have an ideal legislative body, 
I would not be in favor of an absolute veto. 

Professor Moses. You think this is a good place to get an ideal 
legislative bod}^? 

General Smith. I don't think so. 

Judge Ide. Suppose it was necessary for legislation to pass through 
both houses, and one of the houses was appointed, or a considerable 
portion of it? 

General Smith. If 3^ou have a body of men who are conservative, 
who would not be controlled either by motives of revenge or by a 
fond remembrance of the insurrection, a modified veto might be suffi- 
cient. If your legislative body is entirely conservative and composed 
of men who will not chafe under the remembrance of defeat, why the 
probabilities are that the veto power might be restricted to a certain 
extent. If both legislative chambers are to be chosen by popular vote, 
or by conventions elected for the purpose, a restricted veto would be 
a menace to the public safety. The bitterness engendered by the con- 
flict here will not pass away in a day, and it will make itself felt in 
any legislative body directly or even indirectly elected by the people. 
Of course, if you have one chamber composed of appointive members, 
and you are sure of the men, and that ulterior motives will not influence 
their consideration of legislation, the veto power could be restricted. 

Judge Ide. It would require a two-thirds or three-fourths vote to 
pass. 

General Smith. Under the conditions I have indicated, there might 
be no danger; but if the legislative chambers are to be elected by the 
people, I should hesitate to put it in their power to override the veto. 

Professor Moses. You are aware, of course, that the moral effect of 
a defeat of the will of the Government will be very great? 

General Smith. The moral effect would be very great. There is 
still in the hearts of the people, and will linger for years to come, a 
certain amount of hostility to the American Government and to its 
representative. For many years to come, men who are under a cloud 
with the Government, or who are charged with political offenses, or 
even with crimes perpetrated in the interests of politics, will have con- 
siderable popular support. Three hundred years of arbitrary power 
and severity have stripped the jail of odium, and the man who wears 
chains has the popular sympathy. 

Judge Taft. Even if he were to steal, I suppose it would be regarded 
as pardonable ? 



CHUECH LANDS K^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 245 

General Smith. If there was the slightest question about his culpabil- 
ity his neighbors and acquaintances would think it incumbent on them 
to vindicate his character by some public professions of faith in him. 

Professor Worcester. How do 3^ou think the people on the whole 
are satisfied with the result of their experiments; what do they think 
about themselves ? 

General Smith. Their ideas are a bit mixed. They are not entirel}^ 
convinced that governmental machinery is as simple as it looks. The 
raising of monej^ to keep the government in operation and the judi- 
cious expenditure of it when once raised have been found to present 
questions not unmixed with difficulty. There is a disposition to have 
too man}^ officials, to spend too much money on salaries and to expend 
too little on the public and for the public benefit. An idea of this can 
be had when I sa}" that one pueblo, with an estimated revenue of §8,000, 
proposed to expend only §800 on the town. Each pueblo in Negros 
must send its estimates of receipts and expenditures to Bacolod for 
approval. 

Professor Worcester. How could it be made available for us, the 
municipal records ? 

General Smith. The estimates are here, on file with the military 
governor. A great deal of expense is entailed on municipalities by 
the unnecessary correspondence indulged in b}^ officials. The^^ have 
inherited the custom from Spain of writing official letters on an}^ con- 
ceivable excuse, no matter how trivial the occasion. The cost of clerks 
and special messengers to deliver these communications is not light. 

General Wright. You would be kept busy day and night answering 
letters. 

General Smith. Yes, sir; sometimes the three officials of the same 
town would write letters to me on the verv same subject. 

Professor Worcester. How is the feeling between the soldiers and 
the natives down there? 

General Smith. Very good in most all of the districts. 

Judge Taft. It depends upon your officers^ 

General Smith. The people are just as sensitive as children — I was 
going to say as sensitive as women — to anything that ofiends. Anyone 
who offends their dip-nitv or their self-love immediatelv loses his inilu- 
ence. The educated people and the people ot means understand to a 
nicety the little amenities that go to make life pleasant, and a person 
who does not respect them finds himself unappreciated. Even pun- 
ishment leaves no rancor, if the conventionalities are observed and 
the delinquent is fairly treated and impartialh^ heard. 

Judge Taft. But it must be done in a polite wa}' ? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Professor Worcester. I have been very much surprised in the course 
of events in the islands east of you, because the people there were good, 
decent, quiet people originally, too, from my certain knowledge. 
What has been the explanation of that. Have the Tagalogs gotten in 
there? Why is it we have so much trouble there? 

General Smith. Yes, sir: I think it may he accounted for in that 
way. I think the Filipinos are ver}^ credulous and very suspicious. 
They are as credulous and as suspicious as children. Every stor}^ 
has its weight, and the last tale is best believed. They are human 
barometers and are as susceptible to the rumor, the canard, and the 
proclama as is the weather to the influence of pressure. 



246 CHUECH LAT^DS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

General Wright. Have vou got into your seat at the custom-house 

yet? 

General Smith. Oh, yes. The only real complaint the merchants 
have is on account of the lack of space in the godowns. 

Judge Taft. Well, General, we are very much obliged to you for 
this picture you have given us, for it is of great assistance. We have 
a municipal code, but it has been delayed by orders from Washington 
until they can advise with us about some features, and it may be we 
will want to call on jon again for some suggestions. 

General Smith. Of course, it is impossible, 1 will say to the com- 
mission, even though we have good judges and they work from 8 
o'clock in the morning until sunset; under the Spanish procedure it is 
impossible. 

Judge Taft. We are going to put in a code something like our 
American code. Are there any lawyers in Negros? 

General Smith. There are, I think, three or four besides the judges. 

General Wright. And of respectability? 

General Smith. The judges are men of honesty and ability. Some 
of the attorneys, however, were connected with the Spanish courts as 
escribanos or as escribientes, and the people don't seem to have any 
great confidence in them. 

General Wright. What is an escribiente? 

General Smith. Clerk. The escribano, as I understand, performed 
many functions which are performed by the clerks of our courts of 
record, as well as some functions which pertain to our sheriffs and con- 
stables. 

Judge Taft. Is he a notary ? 

General Smith. He was not a notary; but by virtue of his of&ce I 
believe he exercised many, if not all, the powers of a notary. 

General Wright. They are great people for multiplying offices ? 

General Smith. They had more offices in Negros in one pueblo than 

1 had for the purpose of the civil and military administration of the 
whole island. 

Judge Ide. Was the business in the courts mainly criminal? 
General Smith. Largely criminal, and principally robbery. Under 
the Spanish regime, before these revolutions, robbery would be about 

2 per cent of the crimes; now the percentage of robbery is much 
greater. Of course, that results from the disturbed conditions. 

General Wright. You have got to bear down pretty heavily on 
these crimes; I am inclined to think it ought to be a death penalty. 

General Smith. They had it a death penalty in Negros until we 
came there; robbery or theft; they made it death for any theft. 

Professor Moses. It didn't stop the business? 

General Smith. They didn't have much robbery until Papa Scio 
began his propaganda. 

Judge Taft. Severity of punishment depends upon its reasonable 
character. 

General Smith. And justice. 

Judge Taft. If you favor the death penalty at all, it is pretty hard 
to say why it should not be applied to a man who commits murder for 
the purpose of committing his robbeiy. 

General Smith. They should do it. Robbery usually results in badly 
boloing a man, if he is not killed outright. 

Judge Ide. The theory of it merely seems to be that the best method 
is to kill the man first and rob him afterwards. 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 247 

Judge Taft. Is rape at all common among them? 

General Smith. No; very rare. Rape is a rare crime, so far as I can 
see. 

General Wright. No necessity for it. 

Judge Taft. Have any of the soldiers married the Visayan women? 

General Smith. I think one has. 

General Wright. I suppose they live with them, a great many of 
them? 

General Smith. If so, it is done secretly. The higher class of Fili- 
pinos, of course, won't tolerate immorality among their women. 
Immoral women are tabooed. They are about as strict among the 
higher classes as we are. 

Professor Moses. What is the general sentiment among the soldiers 
with respect to establishment of relations between soldiers and native 
women ? 

General Smith. I think from 2 to 5 per cent would cover cases of 
soldiers who have mistresses. Of course, that does not include the 
temporary cohabitations. With regard to such temporary relations, I 
don't think many soldiers are overburdened by scruples of conscience. 

Judge Taft. Well, I can't help rememberin^g what the bishop of 
Jaro said about the temptation to which the 5^oung friar was exposed 
when he went out into a village like that. I think the temptations of 
a soldier are greater and the restraint less, 10,000 miles away from 
home, and east of Suez. 

General Smith. There is not any publicity to these things; it is all 
subrosa. I have heard the talk that this or that soldier had a mistress, 
but I never probed very deeply into the matter. 

Judge Taft. Were you called upon to act at all in regard to the 
social evil? 

General Smith. No, sir. There are no houses of prostitution in 
Negros. 

Judge Taft. And how about the saloons ? 

General Smith. The saloon only exists in Bacolod, in Carlotta, and 
some of the larger towns. 

Judge Taft. What legislation did they pass with regard to that? 
Did they impose a pretty heavy tax? 

General Smith. A high license. 

Judge Ide. Isn't vino sold? 

General Smith. Yes; principally by Chinese; but the soldiers do not 
indulge in the native drinks to any extent where there is a canteen 
established. The natives are a very sober people; don't indulge much 
in any liquor, except tuba, and that is taken by the laborer in moderate 
quantities. 

Judge Taft. Is that a fermented liquor ? 

General Smith. It is a fermented liquor. It is taken by the labor- 
ing man after his day's work. If it is taken moderateh^ it acts as a 
mild stimulant and creates a slight exhilaration. Fruit or other liquor 
should not be taken immediately before or after drinking tuba. 

Judge Taft. Does it taste like beer? 

General Smith. It is something like beer in appearance, but tickles 
the throat like champagne, only more so. Its odor is not agreeable. 

Professor Worcester. Sweet tuba is very nourishing. 

General Smith. So I have heard; and I know from experience that 
where the soldiers have taken it in moderation, after a long march, that 
it has produced a good effect. 



248 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

General Wright. You can not eat fruit with it? 

General Smith. No, sir; especially bananas. 

Judge Taft. Do they raise tobacco in Negros at all? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Taft. Does everybody smoke? 

General Smith. Not every bod3^ 

Judge Taft. How would a tax on tobacco or cigars do? 

General Smith. That is, if the tax was imposed upon the package 
after made up? 

Judge Taft. Yes. 

General Smith. I see no objection to that. I think the indirect tax 
is the best form of taxation for these islands and the least likely to 
excite friction or discontent. Any revenue intended to be collected 
and expended by the United States, without intervention of the insu- 
lar government, I think should certainly be derived from indirect 
taxation. 

General Wright. The direct tax — I think, as far as I am concerned, 
you better not touch any direct tax, except such as administered by 
the government here. 

Judge Taft. Well, the land tax is a pretty direct tax? 

General Smith. That goes into the home treasur3^ That goes into 
the support of their own government; that is imposed by themselves 
and on themselves; hence, there will be less room for criticism. 

General Wright. Is the identification cedula tax unpopular with 
them? 

General Smith. They like it better than their own |3 cedula tax. 
The United States cedula operates as a passport and is convenient for 
them. Its cost is small, and hence it is not unpopular. 

Professor Worcester. What do you estimate your population in 
Negros ? 

General Smith. The estimate is in my annual report. I estimate 
the population of Negros to-day from about 250,000 to 275,000 ; that 
includes all. 

General Wright. What is the number of square miles? 

General Smith. Four thousand four hundred and something. 

Professor Worcester. Is there any difficulty in getting into the 
mountain districts now? 

General Smith. Oh, no ; our troops are right there. Of course, I 
wouldn't advise any civilian or person that is unarmed, or even a single 
armed individual, to travel through the mountains unaccompanied. I 
think five armed men could go through the island, or any part of it, 
without being molested. 

General Wright. Would these ladrones attack you? 

General Smith. They won't attack any armed parties. 

General Wright. How do they live — on little patches around vil- 
lages ? 

General Smith. There are two classes of ladrones — the ladrones pure 
and simple, and the revolutionary ladrones (the ladrone who travels 
under the guise of a revolutionist, but who never does any revolting); 
the ladrone who robs for the lust of robbing and without pretense, and 
the insurrecto robber who lives exclusively on extortion and pillage. 
The ladrone who pretends to be nothing else plants a little rice and 
some camotes in the mountains and falls back on that resource when 
grass is short and robbing becomes unprofitable or dangerous. The 
insurrecto robber never works — that would be infra dig. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 249 

Judge Ide. Do the people resist them at all? 

General S^iith. One armed man could enter a pueblo of 8,000 
population and rob it. 

"General AVeight. Don't they have any police force? 

General Smith. The pueblo police force (not the United States native 
police) seldom offer resistance against a man with a reputation. 

General Weight. Do the}' have any rural guards there i 

General Smith. Yes. Every pueblo has its ^'rondas" and its police; 
but they are very retiring in the face of danger. The}^ are no earthly 
use unless they have a percentage of Government troops with them. 
I won't say that as a whole, because some pueblos have good police 
and use them— the pueblos of Maso and Icio, for instance. 

Judge Ide. Do the people have arms there, in those towns? 

General Smith. Yes, sir. 

Judge Ide. To defend themselves with. 



ANSWERS TO INTERROGATORIES. 

1. I lived fort^'-nine years in the Philippines, excepting eight 
months, which I passed in Hongkong. 

2. In the provinces of La Laguna, Manila, Bulacan, Mindoro, and 
Jolo. 

3. As a student I was four 3^ears in contact with friar professors of 
the Universit}^ of Santo Tomas, as an agriculturalist for sixteen years 
in a certain communit}^ which appeared to be their property, and as a 
neighbor and parishioner all m}' life has been one of continual 
observation. 

4:. I have known lots of friars, but can not state how many. 

5. I am ignorant of this, never having been in Spain. Some who 
pretend to be better informed say that they came from the lower 
classes of the people. If they are to be judged by their exterior, not 
all come from the same class of societ}^ because the Augustinians and 
Dominican friars are a little neater than the Recoletos, and they in 
turn are neater than the Franciscans. 

6. They derived their income in the province of Manila from the 
estates of Mandaloyon, San Juan del Monte, Guadaloupe, and Muntin- 
lupa; in the province of Bulacan, from Malinta, Lolombo}^ Santa 
Maria de Pandi, Santa Isabel, and from a part of the towns of Gui- 
guinto, Quingua, and Bali wag; in the province of La Laguna, from 
the estates of Binan, Santa Rosa, and Kalamba; in the province of 
Cavite, from Imus, San Francisco de Malabon, Santa Cruz de Mala- 
bon, and Naic; in the province of Morong, from Jala- Jala, and in the 
province of Mindoro, from the Mangaring estate. All these estates 
were essentially agricultural, excepting Mangaring, which is dedicated 
to the pasture of cattle, and Jala-Jala to the felling of trees and haul- 
ing of firewood. Besides those mentioned, the}^ possess numerous 
urban lands in Manila and suburbs. 

It is to be presumed that the religious corporations obtained their 
numerous properties in two ways, namely: The recent acquisitions 
through purchase, as the ones of San Francisco de Malabon, and Jala- 
Jala; and the ones possessed by them since immemorial times. The}^ 
obtained some through the piety of the faithful: others, like Bifian and 
Santa Rosa, were ceded to the friar college with the condition that the 



250 OHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

youth of those towns, or at least the children of the donors, should be 
sheltered there, and educated gratuitously. Other lands again were 
appropriated by them, by virtue of having celebrated an agreement 
between the friars and the property owners, by which the first raised 
a dike and the latter paid a certain amount for the water they used, a 
contribution which in time came to be an incumbrance on the propert}^. 

It is impossible that the donors of these estates should have been 
the sole proprietors of all the lands embracing the boundaries of the 
whole town, in which everyone has his grain-producing field, and it is 
equally impossible to suppose or believe that all proprietors without 
exception should have agreed to donate their fields to them. It is 
more probable that some one or ones lacking heirs, and from motives 
of piety donated his or their fields to some of those corporations, 
which corporations, thanks to the ignorance of the neighboring owners 
and the unconditional support of the Government, extended, absorbing 
with impunity all others, until arriving at the actual state of afi'airs. 

These estates, although belonging to different corporations, have 
with but little difference the same contracts, by means of which they 
subdue the farmers. For a piece of irrigated land measuring 1 
quinon (about 730 square yards) they charged i>150 or more, according 
to the market price of rice; for uncultivated land they charged |10, 
f 20, ^30, and 140, according to classification, and in many estates %1 
for each foot of mango, and 25 cents for each foot of cane or bamboo 
wood. 

For lands included in the radius of the population and exclusively 
intended for building purposes they charged from %1 to ^10 for 
every 200 square yards, according to the building erected or the 
pleasure of the administrator. All this was specified in a four years' 
contract, at the termination of which they were at liberty to transfer 
it to another. 

Rents: It is difficult to ascertain the amount of rents the friars 
obtained from their estates, and as the tenth part of such rents had to 
be paid to the Government, they not onh^ concealed the aggregate 
amounts, but also did everything in their power to reduce same in the 
books set apart for this purpose, in order to pay less. 

7. The priests in their respective parishes are the official inspectors 
of public instruction and of public works in the locality; they assisted 
at the formation of the public census, which served as a basis for the 
personal taxes; placed their ''O. K." on all reports concerning conduct 
and deportment, and, possessing confidential information, decided in the 
majority of cases the nominations of the local officials, in this way 
often annulling the popular vote. Through those same informations 
many innocents were deported. The friars were the self-appointed 
advisers to the local officials in all matters pertaining to their office. 
In this wa}^ the priest, except in rare cases, was the one to make or 
unmake everything without assuming any responsibility, which always 
rested with the local officials. 

8. The relations between the heads of the Spanish Government and 
the heads of the church were those existing between two entities, 
helping and protecting each other. The Spanish Government believed 
the religious corporations to be the principal support of the colonial 
government here. Those corporations, to strengthen this belief, 
denounced rebellions when such existed, and if not, invented some for 
the purpose; and for this they, in their turn, were greatly sustained 
by the Government against the just attacks of the pueblos. 



CHURCH LAT^DS ]N PHILIPPINE ISLA:N'DS. 251 

At this point there must have been a kind of alliance between the 
two heads that was more or less efficacious, according to the greater or 
less credit which the Government allowed the said corporations. 

9. About ^7 for marriages, $3 for interments, and 50 cents for bap- 
tisms. This last price applied to the poor and the real distressed. 
The rich were charged according to the extravagances of the church 
arrangements; some interments cost as much as $500. 

There is no doubt that in the early days of the conquest these new 
converts to Christianity not only failed to pay these taxes, but, more- 
over, received small presents in order that they might submit to bap- 
tism, etc., but after the people had embraced this new faith the religious 
orders commenced also to collect smalJ sums, which were soon con- 
verted into a regular, fixed charge, in proof of which I cite the tariff 
decreed about the middle of the last century by the Archbishop of Santa 
Justa and Rufina, in order to undoubtedly correct the arbitrariness and 
abuses in the collection of the taxes imposed at that time, because if this 
were not true there would have been no need for drawing up such a 
tariff. It is not known if this tariff was executed at the time of said 
archbishop; certain it is that in our days it is considered a dead letter 
by the friars. The procuring of the required fees was more a cause 
of delay to the poor than a means of preventing them to marry. 

With the exception of a few cases the moralit}^ of the friars was not 
in accord with their self-imposed rules. 

10. Submitted to a rigorous system of living, thej^ felt the human 
frailties and desires more violently than perhaps we do. This may be 
the reason their moral level was so much lower than the one of the 
respectable dwellers of the pueblos, to whom they should be an example. 

The opportunity I had to observe the morals of the friars is stated 
in answer to question number three. 

What took place in the interior of the convents under cover of the 
confessional and the certain deeds committed every now and then and 
commented upon in whispers by the people of the neighborhood, and 
which the Government and administration of justice hastened to cover 
up, are better adapted to figuring in the chronicle of convent scandals 
than in the present interrogatories. 

11. That of impeding the education of the Filipinos and being the 
cause of innumerable deportations of innocents. 

Yes; this hostility exists against all religious orders, but is more pro- 
nounced against some than others. The friars hated intelligence and 
prosperity in a Filipino, convinced that it would cause their separation 
from the archiepiscopal church; the deportation of people from the rich 
and cultured pueblos were therefore more frequent than the ones of the 
poor towns, where the ignorant people lived, and for this reason Augus- 
tine and Dominican parish friars were more hated than the Franciscans, 
who served the former. 

12. It is certain that many friars were the principal causes of the 
greater part of the deportations of Filipinos, who could not prefer 
charges before a court of competent jurisdiction against the friars, as 
the administrative measures were in full vigor, nor could they appeal 
to the public opinion, as this was prohibited by the previous censorship. 
In Madrid efforts were made to procure the liberation of some whose 
only crimes were contesting orders to vacate premises, but the only 
result obtained was their being transferred to another and worse place, 
in this manner to preserve, as they said, the principle of authority. 



252 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE IwSLANDS. 

It is better to preserve silence of the cruelties and abuses committed, 
because they would fill volumes. 

13. It is sad to say that, as priests, the morality of not a few of them 
leaves much to be desired. This ma}^ be owing to the fact that nearly 
all were coadjutors under the orders of the parish friars, who served 
as models and teachers to man}^ of the native priests. 

14. The knowledge possessed by the native clergy is more than 
sufficient to suitably discharge their incumbent duties among the 
ignorant masses of the population, but is insufficient for the free- 
thinkers and enlightened classes. 

15. I am not able to presage what the results would be should the 
friars return to their parishes. Perhaps they could, by dint of force 
or abrupt change of opinion, live secure in their convents, or perhaps 
this endeavor would prove fatal not only to the new parsons but to the 
entire Catholicism in the Philippine Islands. 

Nevertheless, it is not advisable to trust to eventualities, but it would 
be far better to listen to the voice of the people than to the exactions 
of a few. 

A Filipino, in a semimonthly paper, wrote to the Spanish Govern- 
ment in 1890 respecting the friars, saying, " Have a care." The people 
are against the friars. If the Government sides unconditionallv with 
the friars, they not only make enemies of the people, but likewise 
confess being against their progress. 

At the end of six years this animosity was changed into hostility. 
Likely the sensibleness of the American Government will make it 
unnecessary for an}^ Filipino to address it in similar language, for in 
that case the actual state of affairs, already insupportable on their own 
accord, would be rendered still more intolerable. 

16. This appointment would only signify that the country has passed 
from one control to another, because in the time of the Spaniards all 
prelates were of that nationality, although there were some among the 
Filipino clergy, more dignified and of greater capacity than the former, 
on account of their virtue and illustration. 

Should it be possible to ignore the American Catholics and conse- 
quently their votes in the future Presidential election, and under the 
existing circumstances appoint a Filipino archbishop, it would have a 
tendency to soften to some extent the existing strained relations. It 
would also be a token, even to the insurgents, of the sincerity of the 
American Government's intentions to guide the Filipino people in the 
difficult science of government, commencing with the religion. 

17. Religious liberty once given to the country, the Catholic clergy 
would naturally be offended, but no more than that. 

This measure, well regulated and intrusted to prudent and, moreover, 
tolerant ministers, would give the youth an opportunity to compare 
the different religious sects and choose for themselves the most suitable 
one. 

If religious instructions of whatever kind and attention thereto on 
the part of the pupils should be made obligatory, it is clear to see that 
this not only would fail to satisfy the people, but would be hateful to 
the Catholics, as well as to those of other beliefs. Everybody would 
be satisfied if at liberty to receive instructions or not in this or another 
religion. 

18. The class of priests occupying themselves merely with purely 
religious matters and living on the proceeds of the voluntary contribu- 



CHURCH LAN^DS 11^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 253 

tions of their parishioners is precise!}^ the class that served the parishes 
of the countr}^ from the middle of 1898 until the present dsij. If any 
change has taken place between the priests and the people it has favor- 
abl}^ affected the latter. 

19. The measures proposed in the last part of this question would 
prove highh^ beneficial to the towns if in their realization would not be 
found an obstacle. On account of the extreme poverty of the people 
the owners of small lots will not be in condition to verif}^ immediate pa}^- 
ment of the value of their respective lands, and then, instead of being 
beneficial to man}^, it would only be a good occasion for a few rich 
people, who, taking advantage of the actual miser}^, would grasp the 
best lands, prejudicial to those who cleared and improved them. If 
installment payments on these lands would be conceded to the people, 
and the proceeds of these payments would be dedicated to the instruc- 
tion of the 3"outh, then not only would these measures be of great 
advantage to some pueblos, but to all the Philippine Islands. 

P. R. Mercado. 
Manila, P. I., Octoher 3, 1900. 



[Translation.] 

ANSWERS TO THE ATTACHED INTERROGATORIES. 

Don Jose C. Mijares, a resident of Bacolod, capital of the island of 
Negros, an agriculturist and owner of city and suburban properties, 
informs as follows: 

1. I have lived, and continue living, in the Philippines sixty-three 
years. 

2. In Laguna, Tayabas, Iloilo, and Negros. 

3. Since the year 1853, when for the first time I left Tuyapa (Manila) 
to reside successfully in the other provinces above named, up to 1895. 
The cases and things of the friar curates I have seen would cause the 
very stones to blush, were they to have the power of blushing, for 
which reason I beg the commission to pardon me from giving cate- 
gorical answer by relating facts which, because of their nastiness and 
repugnancy, the pen refuses to describe. I am glad, however, to be 
able to recall having known in Tayabas a Franciscan parish priest who — 
rare exception — was a model friar, of exemplary conduct and aastere 
life, whose hand was kissed with respect by all, from the governor 
down to the humblest Spanish employee. Unfortunately for my coun- 
try, I have never again known another possessing the qualities of that 
blessed friar. 

4. So numerous are the friars I have known that I have lost the 
count. 

5. I have never trod the territory of Spain, but through several 
Spaniards I have learned that the friars of the several corporations 
that have come to the Philippines in greater part have come from the 
peasant, shepherd, and rustic class of Spain. 

6. From my earl}^ 3^outh I have known that in the jurisdiction of 
Cavite, Laguna, and other provinces of Luzon the friars possess 
vast landholdings, the rents of which, called canon, produced great 
sums of money, and the}^ also secured a good income from the many 
parcels of improved real estate they had in Manila and its additions. 



254 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

7. The friar curates, usurping the attributes of the local authorities, 
not only intervened but exercised joint action with the said authori- 
ties in the three branches, administrative, judicial, and economical. 
The gobernadorcillo or justice of the peace who should have dared to 
disobe}^ the curate friar was certain to land in jail within a few days 
if he were not deported, to which end the reverend friars always had 
on hand, like a panacea against them, the accusation of being a filibus- 
terer and anti-Spanish. 

8. The heads of the Spanish Government, to the detriment of their 
dignity, became servile tools, because they knew that the friar, with 
the powerful lever of their mone}^ treasured up in the convents of 
Manila, were above the law; therefore, more powerful than the very 
governor-general of the islands. 

9. In some parish houses I have seen printed schedules published 
by Archbishop Sancho de Santa Justa y Rulina. I also had occasion to 
observe that several curates have charged parish fees at will and without 
fixed standard, exceeding what was designated in said schedule. I do 
not know whether this may have been the cause in some cases for reluc- 
tance to contract ecclesiastical matrimony, although in my judgment 
what mostly influenced this reluctance is that some reverend friars had 
arrogated to themselves rights which in feudal times were called rights 
of " pernada." (The right asserted by certain feudal lords to enter the 
marriage bed of a newly wedded bride before the husband.) Far from 
my mind is the idea of injuring or slandering, for I can cite specific 
and concrete facts, with the names and descriptions of the parties inter- 
ested, should I be compelled thereto. 

10. Speaking generall}^, and with rare exceptions, their morality 
was detestable, as I have said above. 

11. The causes I have set forth above, and many others, have pro- 
duced in the masses of the Filipino people an intense hatred for the 
four religious commtinities, the Augustinians, Recolettos, Dominicans, 
and Franciscans. 

12. In this respect I repeat my foregoing answer. 

13. For many years past the friars have taken possession of nearly 
all the curacies in the Philippines formerly occupied by native priests, 
the latter being relegated to the position of coadjutors and carr3dng 
on their shoulders all the weight of the ecclesiastical labors and occu- 
pation for the meagre remuneration of fifteen pesos per month, which 
was the most the}^ earned. In the meanwhile their immediate chief, 
the friar curate, filled in his idle moments with corporal enjoyments 
and pleasures, and at times saying to the patient subordinate: "Do as 
I say, and not as I do." 

14. I remember, as a young man, having seen in the reception room 
of the old college or seminary of San Jose, Magellanes street, in the 
walled city of Manila, large oil portraits of Filipino prelates, whose 
names, which I can not now recall, appeared in the lower part of the 
said paintings. In those days I personally knew several canons of the 
cathedral chapter of Manila, some of them showing the tassel of a 
doctor, and I ought to add that they were all sons of the Philippines. 
From the foregoing the capacity of the Filipino priests who occupy 
the highest ecclesiastical posts in the Philippines is demonstrated. 

15. The injury which would result to the country through the return 
of the friars to their parishes is incalculable, even should the}^ become 
secularized, as the people would only see the external diflference from 



CHURCH LA:N^DS 1^ PHILIPPINE ISLAISTDS. 255 

the costume, although at bottom they would not cease to be what they 
have been, are, and alwa^^s will be, friars. 

16. Provided the American archbishop were a Catholic, he would, 
in m}^ opinion, be more acceptable in case he did not allow himself to 
be carried away b}^ the suggestions of the friars, who, unfortunateh^, 
still proudly promenade through the environs of Manila. 

17. I think what is proposed in this question is an excellent idea. 

18. This system, as I look at it, can establish a firm bond of union 
between the people and the ministers of the church. 

19. On this point I can express no specific opinion. 

Jose C. Mijares. 
Bacolod, November i5, 1900. 



[Translation.] 

ANSWERS TO THE INTERROGATORIES. 

To the Honorable American Civil Commission: 

The undersigned, a resident of Nueva Caceres, the capital of the 
province of both Camarines, ex-clerk of the court of the first instance 
of the terminated Government of Spain, ex-councillor of justice under 
the Filipino Government, now under the United States, proprietor of 
and speculator in foreign and domestic fruits and produce, having 
informed himself through the newspaper El Progreso of the inter- 
rogatories relating to the social Philippine friar problem, formulated 
b}^ the said illustrious corporation, believes in performing a patriotic 
duty by replying in the most categoric manner possible to each and 
all of the questions therein contained, and complies as follows: 

1. Says he has lived all his life in the Philippines, that being forty- 
eight years. 

2. That since bo^^hood he has lived successively in this province, the 
one of Manila, and at difierent times in the one of Alba3\ 

3. Prior to the epoch cited I had man}^ opportunities to personalh^ 
observe the religious, social, and political relations which existed 
between the friars and the people of their parishes, particularly in the 
provinces of both Camarines and Alba}^, in both of which I success- 
fully performed the duties of clerk and subaltern emploj^ee of the 
courts of the first instance. 

tt. Have personally known nearly all those who have been parsons 
of the two mentioned provinces belonging to the Franciscan order, 
although I did not have personal dealings with all of them. 

5. The undersigned limits himself to the Franciscan friars. Though 
as a general rule the}^ claim to have originated from noble families in 
Spain, and as such some wished to appear before the Filipinos, not- 
withstanding all this it is believed, and many of their countrymen so 
affirm, that the majorit}^ come from humble families of the countr}^, 
already discredited and hated in Spain since the beginning of this cen- 
tury, as are the religious orders from which the here-discussed friars 
originated, and the members of distinguished and rich families abstained 
from entering. In this respect there can not be a great difi'erence in 
the several religious orders which exist in the country. 

6. It is publicly notorious among the inhabitants of the capital that 
the friar convents established therein possess and hold dedicated to 



256 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

agriculture great landed properties, particularly the ones of San Augus- 
tine and Santo Domingo, in the provinces of Manila, Cavite, La Laguna, 
Bulacan, and others which 1 do not remember at present, as well as 
many urban estates within the walled cit}^ as well as in the suburbs, 
all of which produce abundant rents. As an official proof of the exist- 
ence of the former, in the pueblo of Calamba, province of La Laguna, 
exists a report signed by the mayor of that pueblo, which was pub- 
lished by the newspapers of this capital, the undersigned does not 
remember if in El Liberal or in El Progreso. 

As regards the real estate holdings of the Franciscan order in this 
province, of both Camarines, and Albay, where the informant has 
resided at different times, they only have, according to his knowledge, 
in the first province the hacienda de Palestina, together with the building 
which serves with its chapel as a leprous hospital, and in the second, 
in the town of Guinobatan, the college formerly used as a grammar 
school, erected with capital and material given by the residents of this 
and other pueblos of the said province of Albay, under the direction 
of him who was rector of that town, Fray Carlos Cabido, who by and 
for himself and without they knowing it ceded the property of the 
building after being finished to the Franciscan order, of which pro- 
ceeding the others used to avail themselves in like cases, acquiring the 
possession of the largest building in Guinobatan. 

7. In the towns of their respective parishes the friars exercised 
under the Spanish Government the political functions of local inspect- 
ors of public schools, maintained with funds of the commonwealth. In 
virtue of those attributes, which were considered as a part of their 
parish duties, they subjected to the whim of their will the teachers in 
primary instruction in their towns. Entirely upon them depended the 
existence of said teachers, because the reports of the friars determined 
the suspension, dismissal, or disqualification of these teachers. 

The friars, who in their writings figured as decided champions of 
instruction of the Filipino people, being parsons, they, through indi- 
rect means, placed all kinds of obstacles in the way, so that the instruc- 
tion given to the people should be as limited as possible, and under- 
standing, as is natural, that the principal means of obtaining same 
during the time of the Spaniards was for the children not to acquire 
a knowledge of the Spanish language, and they advised and even 
threatened the teachers not to instruct the pupils therein, and if in 
complying with the orders of the Spanish Government they laid aside 
such perfidious disloyal insinuations they made themselves objects of 
the friars' vengeance, who pursued them until bringing about the 
separation or dismissal of the teacher and his substitution by another, 
who at least to them did not possess those defects. To this is owing 
the deplorable backwardness of the instruction in many of the towns, 
removed some distance from the capitals of the provinces. 

Besides those faculties which in practice allowed the parish friars to 
direct at their pleasure the intellectual movements of the Filipino peo- 
ple, they were vested with others which ought not to have a precedent 
in any other country of the world. One of those, the most principal 
one, of course, and the one which in time degenerated into an inex- 
haustible spring of abuses, was the faculty of authorizing with their 
" O. K." (a kind of censorship) every public act of the municipalities of 
their parishes, without which indorsements the documents certifying 
to those acts were lacking in legal value in the eyes of the Spanish Gov- 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 257 

-ernment. This resulted in the friars absorbing ever3^thing' in the towns ; 
and as those acts referred also to the moral, political, and religious con- 
duct of the inhabitants of each pueblo, and as the goodness and honest}" 
of the citizen reduced itself to his being devoted and submissive to the 
friar, anybody will understand the pernicious consequences of such 
terrible preponderance, much more so since the friars in the towns of 
their parish devoted themselves more to the cultivation of the temporal 
possessions than to the spiritual welfare. In the course of time such a 
corrupt system produced acute evils in the country. Little b}^ little 
the Filipinos understood that to be a "'somebod}"" in the several sta- 
tions of civil, municipal, political, economical, and judicial life in a 
pueblo ruled by a parish friar it was requisite to fawn upon and be sub- 
ject to him in everything. An}- contrary proceeding would mean to 
€ourt the loss of reputation, downfall, and even death, which almost 
invariable" resulted. Especiall}^ in the 3"ear 1896 these evils were ren- 
dered more evident, the year in which the patience of the Filipinos 
having come to an end, they emitted the first sparks of the revolution, 
vv^hich, in delivering its blows against the friars, had, as an inevitable 
consequence, to strike the Spanish Government. Let us put it in this 
way, because the religious orders from which the parish friars came 
had absorbed the Spanish Government. 

We infer from all this that the alliance of the state and the church 
in the Philippines was nothing else than placing such favored orders 
over the state and the country in such a wa}" that the Spanish Govern- 
ment may, without fear of making a mistake, be called a theocratic 
colonial government. 

Under those conditions all public employees, from the highest 
official to the lowest clerk of the court of justice or town halls in the 
pueblos of the islands, although committing all the abuses and irregu- 
larities possible, if friends of the friars, were, notwithstanding all that, 
considered as honest, wise, and without reproach, and vice versa in 
the opposite case. 

8. This question is answered by what I have already said of the 
position held by the religious orders to which the parish friars belonged. 
Respecting the governors of the country-, and in some cases the real 
honest Spanish emploj-ees who opposed some of the said religious 
orders or some member thereof, they invariably succumbed on account 
of the amount of influence the friars enjoyed in the country and near 
the Spanish Government, to whose monarch the bishops and chiefs 
of religious orders established in the Philippines were his councilors, 
and who had on their side the Carlistic newspapers of Spain, as well 
as most of those of other beliefs, and which were subventioned bv them 
for this purpose. 

The four heads of the orders of Augustinians, Dominicans, Francis- 
cans, and Recolletos were a part of the board of government, together 
with the archbishop of Manila. 

9. Generally they levied exorbitant taxes in an arbitrar}" manner, 
not so much on marriages and baptisms as on interments of the rich 
persons. 

The family of the late Senor Laurencio Cea, a rich property owner 
of Aigain, of this province of Ambos Camarinos, told the undersigned 
that Fray Rafael Gascon, former parish friar of that town, demanded 
the sum of ^1,000, and so on, in many other cases, according to public 
opinion, in notorious violation of the ecclesiastical tariff, published the 
S. Doc. 190 17 



258 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

19th of November, 1871, by the illustrious and virtuous archbishop, 
then of Manila, Don Basilio Sancho de Santa Justa j Rufina. One of 
these dispositions beginning the rules was that in every parish an 
authentic copy and another plain one, translated into the dialect of 
the countr}", will be placed in a public place. Nevertheless, in no 
friar convent I ever went to have I seen such a cop}^ Apparently 
so unknown was this ecclesiastical tariff among the friars that many 
were not aware of its existence, they governing themselves in this 
respect by the customs more or less authentic in such pueblo or dio- 
cese. 

The undersigned is ignorant whether the tariff of the archbishop, 
Senor Don Basilio Sancho de Santa Justa y Kufina, has been modified 
or superseded by a later one. 

Regarding the collecting of fees, the parish friars were generally 
very exacting, and when the parties concerned could not pay in cash, 
on account of the large sums, the friars admitted instead payments of 
farms and cattle, and through such and similar means they in time 
managed to acquire the possessions of those lands, now actually pos- 
sessed b}" the convents. 

How these fees were established is well said in the preamble of the 
circular accompanying the before-mentioned tariff' of the archbishop, 
and which is here copied in part by the depositor. "The common 
enemy has always procured to discredit the ministers of God, to infuse 
into their minds the spirit of avarice, taking advantage of spiritual 
things. At the same time the devoted pastors of the church have 
always procure^, either by themselves, or also by the diocese or pro- 
vincial and general s^^nods, to remove from the ecclesiastical name the 
slightest shadow of simony, etc." 

Although criticised by the country, nobody dared to protest seriously 
against those exorbitant fees for fear of the friars' vengeance, and what 
happened in some cases, when those called upon to pay were poor, was 
to postpone indefinitel}^ the consummation of their marriage until, for 
instance, the marrying couple had sufficient money. 

10. The moralit}^ of the friars in the pueblos of the Philippines was, 
with few exceptions, very scandalous, and reached the incredible in 
some pueblos of this province and Albay. 

The parish friar placed in the position already described b}^ the 
undersigned regarding his parish converted himself, up to a certain 
point, into an absolute lord, master of lives and property, and, if so 
willed, he made and unmade everything according to his fancy. 

Master of the will of the people, more through fear than out of love 
for him, he nominated town authorities who pleased him, which nomi- 
nation resulted almost always in the greatest flatterer of all his parish- 
ioners, and it is plain that all weighty determinations dictated by the 
municipal authorities were not proper initiatives but those of his 
amours. Invested with this power, who would dare to resist an}^ of 
his whims and those frailties of man of flesh and bone? If dominated 
by the temptation of an unhol}^ love, neither the sacredness of the 
bridal chamber nor the modesty of a virgin or widow detained him. 
Cases personally witnessed by the undersigned unfortunately confirm 
the veracity of his assertions. A certain Fray Damaso Martinez was 
a foreign vicar in the years 1870 to 1872 in the district of Lagonoy of 
this province, with residence in that of Goa, and he was so despotic 
and wicked to the people of his pueblo — may God forgive him — that 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 259 

when going to the house of a married woman he ordered the husband 
to leave the house in order to be able to speak alone with his wife, 
and in this way he managed to seduce many, although he did so only 
to those he knew to be ignorant. 

But, if this vicar friar only committed these abuses on the ignorant 
and uninstructed people, I have to relate another case, of which a dis- 
tinguished lady was the victim, who passed as and was, in fact, a very 
honest woman. It was the work of the machinations of a friar, 
violently enamored of her. It happened in the pueblo of Polangui, 
province of Albay, and whose parish friar was the friar Fray Eusebio 
Platero. The lady was the widow of a Spaniard, and belonged to one 
of the first families of that town. She had a brother more enlightened 
than the friar, and who was opposed to the latter's desires. Being 
aware of the friar's evil intentions toward his sister, the widow, he 
forbade her any kind of relation with him, particularl}^ the frequent 
visits the friar made. Aware of this, the priest at once contrived to 
bring a false accusation of assassination against the brother, which 
caused the latter to be pursued by the civil guard and the court of the 
first instance, and thanks to his being able to furnish the proofs of his 
innocence in time, the blow did not reach him, but he could not escape 
from all the dailj^ vexations which did not cease to pursue him. 

Strong in his resolution to conquer the widow, who from the begin- 
ning exhibited the greatest contempt for his amorous pretensions, the 
friar did not delay to resort to the last recourse of sowing a mortal 
hatred between the brother and sister, and, withdrawn in this way from 
the influence of her brother, who saw himself obliged to threaten her 
with grave chastisements, she soon made common cause with the priest 
against her brother and fell into the snare, bringing shame upon her 
family and occasioning for that reason the premature death of her 
brother. This ignoble action of the friar is very fresh in the memory 
of the people of Polangui (Alba}^). 

11. The undersigned believes the same hostility does not exist against 
all the religious orders, and it does only against the ones of the 
Augustinians, Dominicans, Recolletos, and Franciscans, the ones who 
in different parts of the archipelago performed the duties of parsons 
or parish priests; and, as principal cause of said hostility, can be pointed 
out the tyrannical behavior pursued in the parishes by the friars in 
the ministry of their political religious office. 

The friars, in their parishes as well as in the convents of the com- 
munities to which they belonged, devoted themselves more than an}"- 
thing else to acquire riches for their convents, and for this purpose 
they made use of all the means in their power in all the ranks of the 
administration, doing it under the mask of religion, before which the 
ignorance the}^ at all cost desired to maintain among the common 
people, and the fanaticism fomenting in the countr}^, had to keep silence 
like meek lambs. 

Little by little the people discovered these shameless acts, and on 
fixed occasions made manifestations of their complaints before the 
Spanish authorities, who, if they did not pay any attention, served 
only to strengthen more every time the friars' influence, who, on the 
other side, encouraged by impunity, they repaid the off'enses of the 
bold with a strong vengeance. If they were enlightened people they 
fell under the weight of the accusation of being freemasons and free- 
booters, and were deported to some of the inhospitable Spanish pos- 



260 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

sessions, or shot as traitors to the country by sentence of a court- 
martial. The Filipino people knew that all this and the bad times 
the}^ experienced in their pueblos under the Spanish rule were owing 
to the friars' intrigues and false reports, and therefore the people 
attacked them as their principal enemy. 

Through religious fanaticism the friars obtained from many a child 
or childless devotee, in the name of the Catholic Church, rich dona- 
tions of mone}^, jewelry, and valuable estates, but after receiving 
same they transferred them to the convents of their orders, and it 
is probable. that in this way the great wealth they possess in the coun- 
try was accumulated in the course of time. 

All the world knows that the friar, upon entering his religious order, 
:makes voavs of poverty and can acquire nothing, neither for himself 
mor for his family or heirs. But once friar of a pueblo he believes 
himself entitled to acquire all kinds of treasures, and dying he leaves 
everything to his order. 

The Filipino people also know that the friars can not be priests or 
parsons of any pueblo, on account of their canonical education, and if 
they succeeded in obtaining parishes in the Philippines it was on 
account of privileges ceded by the Pope Paulo III or IV, if I remember 
right, in consideration of the want of native personalities that naturally 
existed in the beginning. 

' Time passed by and the secular Filipino clergy multiplied in greater 
number than the existing parishes in the country, and there were some 
clergymen, as, for example, the priest Pedro Pelaes and the most 
unfortunate Father Burgos and others, who permitted themselves to 
affirm, and even to maintain in their publications, that the time had 
come when the clergymen should perform the duties of the parishes 
in the Philippines, instead of the friars, whose concessions on this sub- 
ject ought to be extinct. But what would have become of Father 
Pelaes if he would not have sunk under the ruins of the Manila cathe- 
dral during the earthquake of the year 1863? Without doubt he 
would have shared the same fate as had the unfortunate native priests, 
Fathers Jose Burgos, Jose Gomez, Jacinto Zamiro, Severino Diaz, 
Gabriel Prieto, and Inocencia Herrera, the first three, as is public and 
notorious, dying in 1872 by the garrote, and the others shot in the field 
of Bagonbayan in 1896 for a false political reason, veritable friar 
intrigues. JBut if illegally to maintain themselves in the possession of 
the ecclesiastical privileges, against the laws of progress, that the 
friars committed so many assassinations among the Filipino secular 
clergy, it was also in order to preserve the political prerogatives, 
which gave them the preponderance in the Spanish administration, 
that they committed all kinds of abuses and like assassinations, with 
the death of hundreds of children of illustrious Filipinos for analogous 
causes. One of those was the never sufficiently lamented Doctor Don 
Jose Rizal, a genuine representative of the intellectual progress of the 
country and its noble aspirations. 

Those deeds and others derived were the apparent reasons for the 
hostility of the Filipinos against the before-hientioned corporations; 
but there exist other secret ones of another order, which consist in 
having propagated among the populous masses, by means of writers 
subsidized by them, as for instance a certain Guioquinap or Pablo 
Feced, a Spaniard, the doctrine of the superiorit}^ of races, applied 
to the Filipinos, as giving insidiously to understand that the people of 



CHURCH LAIS^DS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 261 

an inferior race are not called upon by nature to enjoy the social 
advantages which are enjoyed by the ones of a superior race, among 
whom they naturally placed the Spaniards, derived from this differ- 
ence the greater or lesser aptitude or capacity of the Filipino to exer- 
cise determinate social functions which only belonged to the people of 
a superior race. Thus the native clergy was not acknowledged to 
have aptitude to fill the office of parish priests, as it was necessary 
that this should be exercised by friars of the superior race, and the 
same was pretended with regard to other public offices. 

Although this doctrine, anathematized b}^ science, by religion, and 
by experience, could not make an impression upon the good sense of 
the most ignorant of the Filipinos, nevertheless it contributed not a 
little to the exasperation of the mind against their authors or inspira- 
tors, who by this demonstrated once more their being real descendants 
of the famous hidalgo, Don Quijote de la Mancha. 

The reason why no hostility exists against the other religious orders 
living in the country, as the ones of the Paulists and Jesuits, can, in 
the opinion of the undersigned, be ascribed to the fact that their indi- 
viduals did not mix themselves so ostensibly in politics as the before- 
mentioned friars, inasmuch as it is known in the country that they 
only dedicated themselves to the instruction, the Paulists to make 
worthy clergymen who already excelled the friars in science and virtue, 
and the Jesuits for having taken great pains in the instruction of the 
Filipino youth by a plan and a proceeding notably superior to the ones 
of the other colleges governed b}^ Dominicans, Augustinians, and 
Franciscans, and although the Jesuits were also in charge of parishes 
in the missions of Mindanao, it is not known that they did commit 
those abuses of which the other parish friars were accused, the public 
opinion is in favor of the former. 

12. Justified are the charges made against the friars, that they 
were the cause of the deportation of some Filipino parishioners, and 
in affirming so, I reckon with the testimony of many who have been 
deported in the year 1896, especially with one of the ex-teachers of 
the children of Guinobatan (Albay). Senor Enrique Villareal, who 
assures in a categoric manner that in said year the Spanish governor 
of Albay, after having him arrested by the civil guard and brought 
before him, declared that the priest of his town, Fray Carlos Cabido, 
was the one who accused him (Villareal) of being a Freemason and 
freebooter, and therefore, he can not trust to the promises of protec- 
tion said friar had offered him. Said Senor Villareal with many 
others, to the amount of 240 Filipinos, was a companion of the under- 
signed in Fernando Po, in the Gulf of Guinea (Africa), to which place 
he was deported with the others; half of them perished there, through 
the inclemency of the climate and the bad and insufficient nourishment, 
during the period of one year; also some of them fell victims to the 
cruel treatment on the part of the Spanish soldier, Jose Fernandez, 
charged with the vigilance over the deported. 

Though in regard to the deportation of the undersigned, it is not 
possible to point out that the principal cause of such has been some 
one of the man}^ friars of this province, it can be assured, without fear 
of being mistaken, that the apprehension by the Spanish authorities 
of pacific or innocent neighbors in the Philippines effected in the year 
1896, some to be shot and others to be deported, was advised or 
instigated by the parish friars and the bishop, together with the 



262 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

Spanish residents of the country, and the proof can be deduced from 
the following deeds: 

(1) Before the said jear 1896 a kind of inquisitorial investigation 
was in vogue among the parish friars in their parishes of who were 
Freemasons, and those were recorded b}^ the civil guard in what that 
bod}^ called the "Green Book," because, according to the friars, Free- 
mason in that epoch was synonymous with freebooter. In all the trials 
formed by the military tribunals, on account of the political events 
referred to in the year 1896, they accused the condemned or indicted 
if they were or were not Freemasons. 

(2) The month before the discovery of the famous revolutionary con- 
spiracy by the noted priest of Tondo, Fray Mariano Gil, the Franciscan 
friars of the near-by pueblos of this capital did not cease to celebrate 
secret reunions, which used to be the forerunners of surpassing deeds 
in the country. 

(3) That a month prior it was already confusedly whispered in the 
towns of the parish friars that days of mourning and blood were 
approaching the Philippines, which nobody knew how to explain. 

(1) That, while the undersigned was in one of the departments of 
Bilibid with a hundred political prisoners, tied with chains and obliged 
to lay down upon the tiled floor, with the pavement for a bed, a friar — 
the narrator does not remember if he was an Augustinian or Dominican — 
with a military officer, entered one afternoon, passed through the hall 
of the sufferings of so many luckless, as we were there, innocent the 
greater part, and in place of lavishing a few words of consolation to 
the unfortunates, which is a duty of a minister of the religion of the 
Crucified, he passed on, casting right and left glances of contempt, 
scorn, and ill-will, which froze the blood of the imprisoned ones, in 
this way making their situation more serious. He was to all appearances 
an emissary of the friars, to acquaint himself if their poor victims 
were treated as they wished. 

(5) The orders of the parish friars in the Philippines are, according 
to public opinion in Spain, large shareholders in the enterprise of the 
trans-Atlantic Spaniards, who wished to retain in their possession the 
official transport ships of mail, troops, and deported prisoners, all of 
which were entitled to passage at the expense of the commonwealth. 
The undersigned, with several hundred of deported to the Spanish 
possessions in Africa, were on several voyages embarked on Spanish 
trans-Atlantic liners, and to all of us it was given to understand that 
the ill-treatment the deported will receive on board, from officers as 
well as from the sailors, having us tied together two and two, elbow 
to elbow, day and night, until arriving at the port of Barcelona, was 
owing to the fact that we were considered rather the enemies of the 
friars than of Spain, and the same was told to us by the pious Maris- 
tas of the Sacred Heart of Maria, established in the island of Fernando 
Po, that in consideration of their brothers in the Philippines they 
abstain in public from sustaining any intercourse with the deported, 
until orders were received from the Spanish Government releasing us 
from the deportation and allowing us to return to our homes, after the 
peace agreed upon in Biaenabato. 

The religious intolerance and mistrustfulness of the policy of the 
Spanish Government, and its consequent weakness, induced it in 1896 
to commit all kinds of injustices, which had to produce the fall of its 
secular colonial empire in the Philippines, since the first cannon shot 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 263 

discharged in the waters of Gavite b}^ the powerful American squad- 
ron, bearer of the hymn of liberty repeated in chorus by ten million 
Filipinos. And as a partial proof of one of those injustices, without 
precedent in the nineteenth centur}^ is the deportation imposed upon 
the undersigned, Seiior Antonio Arejola and Seiior Tomas Valenciano, 
residents of Nueva Caceres. 

I never was a partisan of the revolution, although I was of the evo- 
lution, and the accusation which in the first signification made me 
personal enemies of Spaniards united with the friars, as has been said 
before, ought of a necessity to be removed in the cause in which he 
was implicated. 

This was realized, and dictated the suspension consequential in my 
favor and others on the 27th day of October, 1896, as the commission 
will be able to see by the annexed copy of said resolution, which in 
Fernando Po was handed me at being notified of it, after almost a 
year; and on the same day they embarked me and some 76 companions 
on the trans-Atlantic liner Ida de Luzon for the deportation, which I 
endured with the patience and resignation of an honest man and father 
of a numerous family, which, through my just two years' absence, was 
left in the greatest misery. 

(6) Lastly, it is also true that some of the said friars were the 
authors of insults and cruel punishments caused to some unfortunate 
clergymen of the bishopric of Vigan, Ylocos Stir— Fathers Garces, 
Dacanay, and Seiior Don Bartolome Espiritu, and others — as can be 
proved by the statement of their sufferings published in several news- 
papers of this capital, and as those clergymen still live, they could 
confirm the deposition with their testimony. The clergymen of Nueva 
Caceres — Severino Dias, Gabriel Priesto, Inocencio Herrera suffered 
like insults prior to being shot, and Don Severo Estrada, who had the 
luck of being placed in liberty during the confinement they suffered 
in the cellars of the San Augustin convent of this capital, constant!}^ 
watched by the friars of said community. 

13. Respecting the morality of the native clergy: As the majority 
were under the orders of the parish friars as coadjutors, there were 
some who participated in the corruption of their principals, although 
there were also many who, notwithstanding all that, excelled in sciences 
and godliness. 

11:. With regard to the knowledge and provision of said clergymen 
to discharge clerical duties: Coming almost all from the conciliar sem- 
inaries, governed by the Paulist fathers, dedicated expressly to make 
priests, after having frequented the colleges of secondary instruction 
in this capital and in the provinces, no Filipino, unless those addicted 
to the friars, who have always placed a great diligence in taking awa}^ 
the prestige, has ever doubted the knowledge and sufficiency of the 
same, to duly discharge their clerical duties, and resting upon them, 
as was always a great part of the religious duties, that should have 
been performed by their masters, the parish friars in their parishes, it 
is evident that the greater part of those coadjutors surpassed the 
former. However, as the opinion of the undersigned in his character 
of Filipino might appear partial to the illustrious commission who 
reads this, my poor work, and to avoid this inconvenience, I make bold 
to call its overtaxed attention to the work of the religious father, Don 
Salvador Pons, who proves with indisputable date and documents, the 
knowledge, sufficiency, and virtues of the Filipino clerg}", said work 
is entitled "Defense of the Filipino Clergy." 



264 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

15. Thinks that the efforts made by the friars to return to their 
parishes, if any, are in the opinion of the undersigned, owing to purely 
political and terrestial motives, because if made out of love for their 
religious mission, they have a vast field in which they can win laurels 
that would make them worthy of the glory of heaven without causing 
harm to a pueblo that heartily hates them. Such are, for instance, 
the missions of China and other countries of infidels. 

Who knows the Philippines, and really desires their peace and wel- 
fare, should tremble at the mere idea that the friars can return to their 
parishes; because in this, the same reasons would subsist, that obliged 
the Filipinos to take up arms against Spain, and would retard indefi- 
nitely the high and noble purposes that animate the magnanimous 
American nation to reestablish the peace and cultivate the prosperity 
of this unhappy soil. 

God grant that I am mistaken in thinking that those who wish or 
work for the return of the friars to their parishes have an interest in 
placing obstacles in the way of the American politic. 

16. Taking in consideration that one of the bases of the American 
politic in the Philippines is the separation of the church from the state, 
the undei signed is of the opinion that, while the peace is not definitely 
established in the countr}^, it is not advantageous for the archbishop 
to be an American nor a Spaniard. The author of this humble work, 
making himself the echo of the thoughts of many of his countr3"men, 
desires he should be at present of a neutral country like Switzerland, 
should it not be possible to find in the Philippines a clergyman worthy 
of such high post in the ecclesiastic hierarchy. 

17. Referring to the establishment of schools in which opportunity 
would be given to ministers of any church to instruct the children in 
religion half an hour before the ordinary one, the undersigned who, as 
an apostolic Roman Catholic, is a partisan of the real liberty, judges 
this establishment very opportune, always conceding to the fathers the 
liberty of choosing any ministers of the church to give religious 
instruction to his children. Under this condition he is sure that the 
establishment would satisfy the Catholics of these islands. 

18. If the parish priests are not friars, or not proceeding from them, 
it is possible that the relations between the pueblo and the clergymen 
would not change very much, but being friars, or coming from them, 
the answerer can not anticipate his opinion, owing to the fact that the 
countr}^ has already lost confidence in said friars, though they may 
return in a different dress. 

19. The undersigned is of the opinion that the rural properties pos- 
sessed by the friars or their convents are not theirs by right, because 
their acquisitions are of invalid right, the more so as said friars at 
being admitted make a formal and solemn renunciation of all their 
earthly rights to the world, and because it is expressly forbidden to 
convents and religious communities by a decree of the provincial Span- 
ish Government in force to-da}^ as law of the loth of October, 1868, to 
acquire and possess property, especiall}^ real estate. 

In conclusion, the informant believes the country would applaud with 
enthusiasm a confiscation of the said properties and its return to the 
Government in the name of the Filipino people, better than the expro- 
priation with the high social objects proposed in the interrogatory, 
more yet if a good part of the funds obtained by the sale in lots of the 
lands would be adjudged in favor of the secular Filipino clergy for 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 265 

the erection and maintenance of conciliar seminaries in greater multi- 
tude than at present in existence for the instruction of the secular 
native clergy. 

This is ail the information I can give accordmg to true knowledge 
and understanding. 

Francisco Alvarez. 

NuEVA Caceres, October ^, 1900. 



FRANCISCO RODRIGUEZ GOMEZ. 

Francisco Rodriguez Gomez, first corporal of marines, and secretary 
to notify the attestation of suspension to the Filipinos, Francisco 
Alvarez and Tomas Valenciano, of which is instructing judge the 
ensign, Don Francisco de Alba Gallardo. 

Certify that in page No. 3 of said process and in the report of the 
auditor of Manila, and first paragraph, is the judgment, which liter- 
ally copied says: 

First. The provisional suspension referring to the proscribed Don 
Manuel Pardo, Ramon Martin, Eduardo Robles, Francisco Alvarez, 
Tomas Valenciano, and Antonio Arejola, regarding whom no just 
cause exists to maintain the accusation, in accordance with article 
No. 538, number 2 of the code of military justice, I likewise certify 
that in page No. 5 is copied the provisional judgment of the captain- 
general of Manila, which says: Manila, 27th of October, 1896. In 
accord with the previous report, supersede provisionally the process 
referring to the proscribed Manuel Pardo, Ramon Martin, Eduardo 
Roble, Francisco Alvarez, Tomas Valenciano, and Antonio Arejola, 
contained in the first paragraph of this decree. 

And, at the petition of the parties interested, I issue the present 
copy, in Santa Isabel de Fernando Poo, the 18th of December, 1897. 

Francisco Rodriguez. 



RAYMUNDO MELLIZA ANGULO. 

[Translation.] 

The undersigned American citizen, in order to tell the truth, and 
for the welfare of the United States and the Philippines, has the honor 
to answer the questions hereto attached: 

1. From his birth until he attained the age of 20 3^ears, when he 
went to Europe, residing here again after the age of 27 until the pres- 
ent time, fifteen }■ ears. 

2. In almost the entire Philippine Archipelago, from Ilocos Norte 
to Misamis, in Mindanao. 

3. Through official positions which he has held since 1882. 

4. The curates of the island of Negros, those of Misamis, Cebu, 
Bulacan, Ilocos Norte and Sur, about seventy. 

5. It is not easy to fix definitely the class of Spanish society to which 
they belong, because they were not communicative as to their origin, 
but judging from their manner of speaking, working, thinking, and 
from their relatives who came to live with them, the majorit}^ of 



266 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

them belong to the lower classes in Spain. This, nevertheless, does 
not prove anything as to the damage they caused, because they all 
did damage, whether they proceeded from a plebeian or aristocratic 
origin. The difference which is noted between friars, properly 
speaking, and the Paulists and Jesuits, with the exception of the 
Capucins, whom the writer is not acquainted with on account of their 
recent establishment here, consists of the fact that the Jesuits and 
Paulists are much more learned and disciplined than the friars, and 
naturally these qualities make them much more commendable, and do 
away with the natural fear of their being wrongdoers. 

6. He states that as a matter of fact he never knew anything about the 
rents and properties of the friars, because he never cared to know or 
think anything about other people's business. But judging from their 
actions, they appeared to be the wealthiest people in the Philippines. 
At this moment he only recalls the estates of Santo Nino, in Cebu; of 
Malinta, in Bulacan; of San Francisco de Malabon, in Cavite, which 
belongs to the Augustinians; those of Lolomboy and of Santa Maria 
de Pandi, in Bulacan, which belongs to the Dominicans, and that of 
Imus, in Cavite, which belongs to the Recoletos. It is to be supposed 
that they possess other properties and receive other rents, which could 
be ascertained definitely by examination of the documents which ought 
to be in the offices of the administrators of the different convents. 

7. He states that the law never conceded them political, administra- 
tive, or judicial rights, except those of merely giving information, as 
by placing their approval on reports rendered by chiefs of the towns, 
or attending local meetings of the governments of the provinces in 
order to give their opinion and vote on some economic, governmental, 
and administrative matters, but not in all cases thereof. Provision is 
made in the colonial legislation of Rodriguez San Pedro, and the laws of 
the Indies, for participation in the preparation of a list of taxpayers, 
in the inspection of jails, and matters regarding sanitation and public 
schools. As a matter of fact, they were the absolute possessors of all 
power in the Philippines, and this is the cause of the disastrous results 
which we are now experiencing through their interference in the moral, 
€ivil, and political education of the archipelago. They were the rep- 
resentatives of the entire power of the islands, because through their 
sacerdotal power they were able to impose their views on the minds of 
the ignorant. This is why they hated free discussion and investiga- 
tion, being very much inclined to their own personal judgment, affected 
always by worldly interests, to which they always adjusted the rules 
of their orders, adulterating them with privileges secured in under- 
handed methods either from the popes or kings to whom they pre- 
sented false and sophistical statements, as, for example, the insuffi- 
ciency of the Filipino clergy in number and their personal incapacity 
to govern the parishes. They did not state, in addition to not telling 
the truth, that those very clergymen were serving them as coadjutors 
and assistants in the saving of souls, and that almost all the parishes 
had one such clergymen, that is to say, not as the parish curate, but 
as a subordinate, which clergymen managed the affairs of the parish 
for entire weeks, while the curate went around the countr^^ or arranged 
political matters with the governor in the capital of the province. 
They also availed themselves of the consciences of the civil employees, 
using them as tools by means of their money and influence with the 
Government at Madrid, where they had their representatives, to sustain 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 267 

them in the condition in which thej^ were found when the revolution 
in the Philippines burst upon them. Their authority, through having 
the civil emplo3^ees of this archipelago at their disposal, was completed 
by subjecting the enlightened Filipinos by the fear of unjust punish- 
ment and deportation, which powers the civil employees placed at their 
disposal. Thus is demonstrated how they came to be the ruling power 
of the archipelago without written or recognized political rights, in a 
direct or indirect manner, according to individual cases. 

8. The said persons had intimate relations of mutual complacency. 

9. It is not easy to answer this, through not having exact knowl- 
edge of the fees which the parish priests collected nor the effects 
thereof. 

10. For the most part they observed a political morality. That is, 
as I have observed in their manner, a morality governed by mere con- 
venience and social appearances. 

11. The cause was that they constituted themselves feudal proprie- 
tors in the pueblos where they ruled, and justice was not obtained at 
their hands, or at the hands of their superiors or the Spanish Gov- 
ernment, because there was no one to correct the abuses. The hos- 
tilitjns not the same against all the friars. It is generally only against 
those who occupy curacies, and of these the greater number there was 
in the town, and the more learned they were, the greater was the 
impression made b}^ their atrocities and outrages on thinking people. 

12. It is not eas}^ to prove that the deportations were the work of 
the friars, because the civil authorities ordered and executed them; 
but sometimes, when it suited them, some friars stated that they had 
caused certain deportations. In addition to this, the most obtuse 
intellect well knew that they were the persons who brought about the 
deportations, because the enemies of the friars generally underwent 
this punishment, and it was generally carried out by the authorities 
friendly to the latter. By this, however, we do not mean to imph^ 
that any Spanish official, at that time, friend or not, would not do the 
friars this barbarous favor, because it must be borne in mind that both 
in^vil and in good the Spaniards and the friars were as one and alwa3^s 
worked together, or in this matter with complete freedom. 

13. Those native priests who did not have the fortune to be inspired 
by the real spirit of Christ had to adopt the morals of the friar as I 
have described them in answer No. 10, and it is natural that the pupil 
should learn from his teacher, the worse the teaching the sooner, 
because, as is said, evil is easily and quickly learned. But it can not 
be denied that there are virtuous and learned native priests, as the 
histor}" of the past and present teaches us, with a knowledge of dog- 
matic theology, which affirms that God spreads his grace over all the 
sons of Adam. Up to the present time no other science as worthy as 
this has stated that the Filipino priests are not descendants of Adam 
because they do not participate in his grace. 

14. This question is similar t» the preceding and therefore its answer 
will be a consequence of the preceding answer. Granting as sufficient 
the morality and knowledge stated there, we must admit that the native 
clergy will be as capable in every sense of the word for discharging 
their clerical duties. 

15. The result will be that those returning to parishes inhabited by 
civilized persons will end by becoming civilized like them and will then 
fit them like a glove, because in a land of morality and civilization the 



268 CHUKCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

majority rules, for an entire pueblo is much, very much, greater and 
stronger than a friar, although he should be greater than Goliath, the 
gaint of Christian tradition. But the one that goes to a backward 
pueblo will only be able to live at the most ten years, at the end of 
which time, if he does not die and God does not help him, he will be 
the victim, along with the government, of the slight advance to civili- 
zation brought about by him, as his love of self will prevent his 
enlightening the pueblo, and in the same manner as slaves produce 
tyrants, will come about the same sad spectacle of a second or third 
edition of the present revolution, because the progress of a pueblo 
can not be blocked, it must necessarily come, and the moral and reli- 
gious influence of the priest has a large and decisive influence. If the 
parish friar who goes to a backward pueblo is personally known by 
the people to be good, by great efi'orts and by the assistance of divine 
grace, he will be able to convert his pueblo to civilization. But at 
this time it occurs to me to ask in m}^ turn: In this century of materi- 
alism where will that friar be found to be curate of a backward pueblo ? 

16. It is not the nationality that brings about either good or bad, but 
the morality and wisdom of the individual, who is affected by two 
influences — reward for his good actions and punishment for the bad; 
so that, la3dng this before the eyes of the American, Spanish, Filipino, 
or Lapland archbishop, and letting him know that his course will 
soon receive its deserts, any of them can be appointed who has suflS.- 
cient moral or intellectual capacit}^ for the position. 

17. That would be proper, just, and practical, because man com- 
posed of soul and body can not cut himself off' from religion; but so 
as not to offend their ideas or to attack real liberty, it is necessary that 
the ministers be of the same religion as the fathers of the children if 
they are under 7 years of age, or that the latter nva^y select after pass- 
ing that age, when, according to moralists and theologians, the human 
being assumes the responsibility for his own sins. 

18. Of course by this fact the relations between the parish priests 
and their parishioners would be changed to the benefit of the latter. 
But this is not enough, because the parish curate who sins has the 
advantage over his victim, especially among Catholics, through the 
moral ascendency which the dogmas and canons give him. Therefore, 
it would be necessary to prepare an official code of punishable acts 
and to proceed against him oflacially, without awaiting the private 
action of the person offended, which in man}^ cases would be prevented 
by that above-mentioned ascendency. 

19. It is somewhat unsafe to give an opinion upon this matter, not 
knowing exactly if the friars used the fruits of their numerous proper- 
ties for the true service of the Lord, as the evangelists teach us to do, 
in which event it is clear that that object would be better than the one 
mentioned in the question we are answering, and they should not be 
deprived of the property that they employ in such a great work. But 
if they do not use the rents of their properties in the service of the 
Lord, certainly they use them wrongfully, because it appears to me 
that they use them just as little for the benefit of man in society, which 
is the object of the question, and, therefore, it were well for the Govern- 
ment to deprive them of their property and use it for the object indi- 
cated in the question. The first supposition must be established by 
the books of expenses and through the Apostolic delegate, finding out 
where they have spent their rents and their money, and if they have 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 269 

not been spent in the service of the Lord, it is to be supposed that 
they would not be employed in that way in the future; the second 
€ase, that the}^ have not used the property for the benefit of man in 
societ3as self-evident, and what is clear does not have to be investigated. 

Raymundo Melliza Angulo, LL. D. 



[Translation.] 

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE HACIENDA OF IMUS. 

The pueblo of Imus was a barrio of Old Cavite prior to this centur}^, 
whose chapel was erected in the place known as Toclon, still a barrio 
of the same name within the limits of Imus, and since that time a large 
amount of land has been cultivated b}^ the natives in the places known 
as Medicion, Toclon, Alapan, Bucandala, Balaiigon, and Anabu, and in 
different places within the boundaries of Imus, the land for the most 
part being devoted to the sowing of pala3\ At that time the^e was 
no dam or means of retaining water; but after many 3^ears had elapsed, 
when the barrio had a sufficient number of inhabitants and sufficient 
means to support a pueblo, on the petition of the natives, the Spanish 
Government declared the pueblo civilly independent of the town of 
Old Cavite. The spiritual administration continued pertaining to the 
curacy of Old Cavite for man}^ years, the natives constructed a pro- 
visional church and a court in the place known as the barrio of Pueblo 
Yiejo (old pueblo), where was established the pueblo of Imus. The 
production of palay having rapidl}" extended, it being raised up to the 
vicinity of Tampus, now the pueblo of Perez Dasmariilas, still there 
was no dam or means of retaining water in the entire territory of 
Imus. During this time a Peninsular Spaniard, whose name and sur- 
name I do not recall, with his wife, named Dona Augustina, who were 
said to be punished b}^ the Government of Spain, arrived from Spain. 
But it was evident from his kindly and amiable treatment of the 
natives and his manner of living that he was a person of high rank. 
He selected for his residence the site near Tampus, now known as Perez 
Dasmarinas. It is supposed that he had preferred this place on 
account of its temperate climate. 

He lived a ver}^ peaceful life during the entire period of his life in this 
pueblo, was very fond of riding horseback, and so he bought a large 
number of horses. He sowed grass for their feed, but there came a 
time when from the month of December to the end of the month of 
January it did not rain, and therefore caused the grass to die. The 
Spaniard decided to register that place if he had an}^ means of irrigat- 
ing his grass, and he found a suitable place, where he then constructed 
a dam composed of stone and wood, and although this dam is not now 
in existence there still remain traces of it. There, in the months of 
October and November of the year in which the construction of the 
dam was completed, the time in which the pala}^ was beginning to be 
formed, there was a scarcity" of rain, on account of which the farmers 
of the place known as Malagasang, now barrio of Malagasang, appealed 
to the Spaniard and asked for water to irrigate their crops. He, see- 
ing that he had more than enough water for his grass, furnished water 
to the farmers, charging $1 per cavan of seed sown which they irrigated 



270 CHURCH LANDS IN PHIIJPPINE ISLANDS. 

and maintained with the water from the dam; and in time this water 
was not only used by the inhabitants of Malagasan, but also by those 
of Bucandala. Dona Augustina died in the year 1795 or 1796, accord- 
ing to estimates, Friar Francisco de Santiago being first friar curate 
of Imus, recently appointed, to whom the Spaniard intrusted the 
administration of the dam on leaving for Spain. This father admin- 
istered and collected the dues for the use of the water from the dam 
for a period of two or three years without changing the amount 
which they had formerly paid to the Spaniard. This practice was 
continued until Fr. Alonzo Tubera de la Concepcion came to occupy 
the curacy, who likewise undertook the administration and col- 
lection of the dues for the use of water from the dam. And this 
curate, observing that the collection of the dues for the use of 
water was being delayed by the low price of pala}^, admonished 
the farmers to pay in grain and just equivalent to the %1 which they 
formerly paid to his predecessor, and as the price of palay was only 
from 3 to 1 reals per cavan, the farmers, in accordance with the indi- 
cation of the friar curate, paid in the following year two cavans of 
palay for each cavan of seed which they irrigated or maintained with 
the water from the dam, this being the equivalent value of $1. This 
curate was much esteemed by his parishioners through his frank and 
agreeable character. Being talking one day with some leading men of 
the pueblo at a wedding, one of them, it is not known why, had the 
curiosit}^ to ask the curate when the Spaniard, the owner of the dam, 
was going to return to Imus. The curate answered that perhaps he 
would not return to the Philippines, as he was a member of a very 
rich family in Spain, and owned estates. The same leading person 
again asked if any member of the family was coming to collect the 
product of the dues of the dam. The curate said that no one would 
come of the family for the product of the dam, as its owner had dedi- 
cated the earnings to the sustaining of the Church of Nuestra Senora 
del Pilar de Imus, and, therefore, you, the farmers, who pa}^ your 
portions for the use of the water of the dam, should always be punc- 
tual in the payment of two cavans of pala}^ for each cavan of seed 
which you irrigate or maintain b}^ that water, as this amount you do 
not pay to the Spaniard, or to the curate, but to the Virgin of Pilar 
herself. After a lapse of two or three years Friar Manuel de San 
Miguel took the place of Father Alonzo in the curacy as well as in the 
management of the dam, and in the following }- ear, as is handed down, 
he constructed the dam of Salitran, upon the completion of which the 
farmers of Anabu received water therefrom for their crops. The 
curate collected three cavans of palay for each cavan of seed; he like- 
wise collected the same quantity of palay from those of Malagasan, 
Bucandala, and the other places where water was obtained from the 
dam. At the expiration of three or five 3"ears another came to fill 
the curacy of Imus, named Friar Mariano de San Miguel. This curate 
respected the above custom regarding the payment for the water, 
neither raising nor diminishing the figure during the ten or twelve 
years that he occupied the curacy. 

It is supposed that he is the one who ordered the construction of the 
dam of Julian, and upon its completion the inhabitants of Medicion, 
Balangon, and Toclon likewise paid an amount of palay equal to that 
paid b}^ the others; but after some years he caused four cavans to be 
paid for each cavan of seed which was irrigated from the water of the 



CHURCH LANDS IT^ PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 27 1 

first dam and that of Julian. And it is to be noted that this friar cur- 
ate remained many years in the curacy, when he was replaced by 
another, who did not alter the charge for water and remained incum- 
bent but for a very short time. Then Padre Nicolas Becerra de la 
Montana took his place in the curacy, and it is stated that he was at 
the same time provincial of the corporation of discalced Augustinians, 
and there came with him a lay brother of the same corporation, known 
as Santiago, who assisted him in the administration and collection of the 
charges for the use of water. After this provincial curate had been 
in charge of the curac}^ some months, he called all the leaders of the 
pueblo together to treat upon the moving of the pueblo to the place 
where it is situated to-day. At the meeting he stated the idea to 
them, showing them the convenience of the change and the benefits 
and advantages to be derived therefrom by the pueblo. After the 
leading men had been thoroughl}" informed on the matter and being 
in accord with him, the Government did not delay in ordering the 
change of the site of the pueblo to where it is situated to-day. On his 
own account the friar curate convoked the leaders again and informed 
them of the necessity of the entire pueblo contributing in a bodv accord- 
ing to their resources to the speedy construction of a church and parish 
house. 

That is to say, that the males over the age of 12 years should take their 
turns in working a week at a time, in accordance with their number 
and according to the division of the work that should be made, and 
the headmen of Barangay were obliged to present the individuals to 
work each week. In addition to this, all those possessing lands were 
to contribute a talacsan of wood for each cavan of seed, having to make 
the payment along with that for the use of the water. Anyone w^ho 
could not pay with that article would do it in equivalent in cash at the 
ordinary value, which is ^1 per talacsan, besides increasing the pay 
for use of water to 5 cavans of palay for every cavan of seed. The 
headmen agreeing to all the propositions of the friar curate, they imme- 
diately began to bring in and pay the talacsans when they paid for the 
water. By this act there was immediately erected a temporar}^ church 
and house for the curate of light materials. It should be noted the 
talacsan of wood was used in the manufacture of brick and lime neces- 
sary for the construction of a church and parish residence of masonry. 
The work on the church was commenced in the vear 1820 or 1821, 
according to estimates, but upon the completion of the church and the 
parish house and after the period of one or two }' ears they still con- 
tinued demanding the payment of the talacsan of wood. The chiefs 
demanded of the very same curate himself that they be exempted from the 
payment of the talacsan, who not only did not pay an}" attention to their 
complaints, but threatened them with the stocks and other punishments 
if they ceased bringing in or paying the talacsan until the termination of 
the construction of a private house of the faithful, the house now called 
the hacienda of San Juan de Imus. And the chiefs having noticed 
the hard nature of the bishop, did not complain again, but continued 
to pay their talacsans. But becoming tired of so man}" sacrifices, the 
chiefs had a secret meeting and appointed six of them to present a 
complaint in the court of first instance of Cavite against the abuses of 
the friar curate. Upon the filing of the complaint and the prepara- 
tion of the record, some of the poor chiefs w^ere put in jail, and the 
others who had been prevented by some reason or other from appear- 



272 CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

ing on the day fixed by the judge were persecuted by the curate. But 
although they continued to hide themselves, the other chiefs continued 
with the case, assisted by an influential woman of Manila, and it is 
known that there was a favorable decision on the complaints of the 
chiefs by the royal audiencia of Manila after some years of litigation. 
The litigants remained absent from their pueblo until the curate died, 
and it is said that the death of this curate was occasioned by the deci- 
sion of the royal audiencia in favor of the chiefs, as he died suddenly 
foaming at the mouth on the very day on which he was notified of the 
decision of the audiencia, and on this account the opinion prevailed 
that the death was suicide by means of poison. Upon the death of the 
curate disappeared the paj^ment of the talacsan; from this time the 
proprietors of land ceased to pay the talacsan on that account. This 
curate allowed the pueblo to see his real influence with the govern- 
ment, for as soon as a criminal could reach him and seek his protec- 
tion that was enough to make him free from all responsibility. So he 
was the close friend of the most celebrated pardoned criminals of the 
district; and when he went to Manila his carriage was drawn by two 
pairs of horses and he was generally escorted by these people. On 
his return he was escorted by two or three pairs of cavalry. There- 
fore he was very greatly feared by the residents of the vicinity. 
Returning now to the assistant administrator, named Santiago, a l^j 
brother, who collected and administered the charge for the water; he 
did not make a single change during his occupancy except to only 
increase the charge by one cavan of palay, which was done at the will 
of the Parish Curate Becerra. There afterwards came another lay- 
man named Matias Carbonel to take his place, Father Becerra still 
being friar-curate, and in time he built the dam of San Augustin and 
Lancaan in order to increase the force of the water of the first above- 
mentioned dam; and so they continued constructing dams down to that 
of the landing place. Lastly, this lay biT>ther seems to have carried on 
the business as an administrator appointed by the provincial curate; 
therefore he disposed f reel}^ in all matters concerning the use of water. 
In time the collection of $1 for each house site was commenced, and it 
is stated that they have the right to collect, as they were using the 
water from the dams; and afterwards they went on to collect from the 
house sites in the barrios at the rate of 2 reals each. Although the 
neighbors were surprised by this new tax, they did not protest 
through the fear entertained by them of suffering the same experience 
as was meted out to the leading men when they complained against 
the talacsan, some of whom, in addition to being impoverished, were 
placed in jail, and the others concealed themselves for a long time. 
This same lay brother was the one who invented the contract docu- 
ments for the watering of the crops, with the house site included, after 
the time of the collection of the new tax. They accepted the con- 
tracts because they believed that by this means they would avoid in the 
future the continuous increase of the pay for the watering of the crops. 
The contrary resulted, however, because each administrator demanded 
an increase and a new contract, the most expensive of all being the 
one who introduced reforms in his administration, and the charges 
ascending according to the reforms introduced, as will be seen later. 
On the death of the lay brother Matias Carbonel, his assistant suc- 
ceeded him, another layman named Joaquin, who reformed the 
documents of contract regarding water for crops and house sites by 



CHUECH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 273 

abolishing the manuscripts and substituting printed ones. He increased 
the cost of the water 1 cavan, so that the 5 cavans for each cavan of 
seed was made 6. Then he measured the meadows and the house 
sites, and after this measurement he collected according to the num- 
ber of balitas or quinones in each parcel possessed by the farmers, abol- 
ishing then the custom of collecting according to the number of cavans 
of seed, there resulting thereb}^ a considerable increase of the charge 
for the use of water and house sites. The entire population became 
alarmed at this, but after manj" deliberations the}^ changed their ideas 
to only protesting against the proceeding of the administrator, because 
they saw that the influence of the friars was more powerful than theirs 
with the authorities. Because they saw from these reasons that any 
complaint would be useless which could be made against the friars, and 
the natives were right in their calculations, because Father Becerra, 
still being curate, avoided an}^ attempt to complain, on account of the 
experiences of the chiefs when the}^ protested on the talacsan of wood, 
for the old men had warned the young and their successors that they 
should never have an}^ trouble with the friars, and much more so when 
they are curates, and, therefore, the}^ paid according to the demands of 
the lay administrator, both for the house sites and the meadows. The 
provincial curate died in the 3^ear 1839 or 181:0 and was succeeded by 
Friar Manuel Zubire; but before this time there was a substitute, 
whose name I do not recall, who managed the affairs for a short time. 
Nevertheless the lay administrator continued the same, and Curate 
Zubire did not give an}^ reason for complaint to the natives during 
the time he was curate. Besides, he became friendh^ with his parish- 
ioners, even having many compadres, because he was accustomed to 
be god-father at the baptism of the sons of leading men, which mul- 
tiplied the names of Manuel and Manuela, because he gave his own 
name to god-children. After this curate, according to the statement 
of the natives, the administration of the water was entirely separated 
from the parish, and the la}^ brother, Joaquin, freely carried out his 
task after that time, as did his successors. In the year 1819 Father 
Guillermo Ra3"o occupied the curac}^, the same laj^man, Joaquin, being 
administrator, and the curate did not intervene in any way in the 
administration of the water. During the term of this curate there 
occurred nothing strange as regards the administration and collection 
for the use of water. In the year 1861 Father Jose Varela occupied 
the parish — an upright priest who carried out his duties with entire 
justice, and was very greatl}^ beloved b}^ his parishioners, who likewise 
didn't meddle in matters pertaining to the administration of the water 
or in the affairs of the municipal captain; for he often refused to 
place his "O. K." on documents and accounts of the tribunal, giving 
as a reason that he was a curate of souls, and that his intervention in 
civil matters was not just, because this demand for his signature 
was only on account of the lack of confidence in the local chiefs 
of the government, and lack of confidence is the mother of distrust 
and makes thieves. All his acts are worth}^ of mention, and the 
pueblo in mass bless him every time that they think of hini. He 
showed the people the uselessness of the money spent in the 
fiestas, as it produced nothing more than the misery of the pueblo. 
On various occasions he showed the vanity of pompous burials. 
He became indignant at the exorbitant price of the water for 
the fields, and exclaiming, said: ''Where will the infernal souls of 
S. Doc. 190 18 



274 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

the administrators of the water go ? " May God take the soul of this 
holy man to his bosom! It was about the year 1865 or 1866 when the 
provincial of the uncalced Augustinians ordered a tax on mangas and 
cane, Father Villa being the administrator of the water. He was the 
faithful executor of the acts of the provincial, the said Curate Varela, 
who defended the pueblo, so that that new tax of two reales for each 
manga tree and one real for each mata of cane should not be carried 
into efiect, and the result was a very great disgust on the part of the 
blessed father; and the pueblo had to carry the weight of the new tax, 
although the residents already were aware of the illegality of the said 
tax, through the simple reason that, if they protested, the tax might 
disappear; yes, but on the other hand they might increase the cost of 
water for the fields, and it would be worse for them. On account of 
these considerations they crossed their arms and paid, cursing the 
author of the idea. It is likewise supposed that the same priest who 
was administrator reduced two very honorable families of the pueblo 
to misery, despoiling them of their fields. These families continued 
to implore the clemency of the authorities, and of the same provincial, 
but accomplished nothing. From this fact the more intelligent of the 
pueblo suspected and figured that the pay for the use of the water is 
not directly for the water, but for the land, and that this was the cause 
of the despoiling. These intelligent men of the pueblo sought a means 
to set aside the unjust proceeding of the administrator, because they 
know that all the land of Imus is the property of its cultivators, and 
if they pay a proportion to the administrator, it is for the use of the 
water from the dams, and nothing more. Thereupon they appealed to 
the persons of influence in Manila, and only obtained traditional advice 
from the old men to not interfere with the friars, because, as they say, 
the very governors themselves of the Philippines tremble before the 
gold and influence of the friars. That great influence is demonstrated 
b}^ the friars of Imus daily, for the hacienda of San Juan, the house of 
the friars, is very much frequented by the highest authorities of 
Manila and their families. There they take their vacations in the hot 
season. Therefore, these intelligent men ceased to use their rights, as 
was counseled by experience. 

During this same time of the Curate Varela and the Father Villa, 
the administrator, as Don Bernardino Abad, formerly copyist of the 
hacienda, showed when Senor Escosura arrived at Manila with the 
title of royal commissioner and with the special commission of requir- 
ing the friars to show their title documents concerning the titles to 
the haciendas, and as the provincial did not find in the convent of the 
Recoletos any document or fact to justify the title in the territory of 
Imus, he called Don Bernardino Abad, an old copyist of the estate of 
San Juan de Imus, and on his arrival, the provincial asked him if in 
the estate house there existed any document to justify the title to the 
territory of Imus. He answered that there did not exist any. ' ' In that 
case what do you know about our possession of those lands?" ''If 
your reverence will have the kindness to pay attention I will explain 
it to you," answered Don Bernardino, and thereupon he related the 
history from the time of the Spaniard, owner of the dam, up to that 
time, in the manner stated in the preceding paragraphs. Upon the 
provincial's being informed thereof, he again asked: "How do you 
know the history which you have just related?" Don Bernardino 
answered that he knew through his father, Don Casimiro Abad, form- 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 275 

erly scribe of the parish and of the hacienda at the same time, who 
had told it to him one day when he was in a good humor. "In order 
to satisfy the royal commission, which Senor Escasura brought to 
Manila, sent by the Government of Spain to require all the religious 
corporations to produce the documents of title to our haciendas, do 
you think there is any remedy?" "Yes, father." "And what is it'^" 
"Father, give large amounts, and in gold, which can rule this high 
official." In fact, the father provincial ordered this, and Don Bernar- 
dino is one of the men that arranged the matter, and it is calculated 
that 20,000 pesos was the amount of the gift, and Senor Escasura did 
not delay long in disappearing from Manila. 

The history heretofore stated was given on various occasions by 
Don Bernadino Abad when he was alive, as well as that of the Spaniard 
who was the owner of the dam. 

In the year 1872 Curate Yarela died and Father Andres Galdeano 
substituted him in the same 3^ear, and the administrator. Father Villa, 
was relieved by Father Gaudencio Marquez much before the death of 
the Curate Yarela. Father Andres was a great worker; he was the 
one who increased the height of the steeple, altered the interior of the 
church, and did not give any cause for complaint to his parishoners. 
It is also thought that Father Gaudencio is the one who ordered the 
construction of the country house in Salitram, where the friars gen- 
erally take their vacations. After the construction of that house he 
also collected a percentage in cash for the crops in the mountains, such 
as palay and sugar cane, the time in which the civil guard invaded 
the entire, province of Cavite doing great damage, as faithful followers 
of the friars and executors of their acts. By this new tax on crops 
raised in the mountains it was confirmed more and more that the col- 
lection for the use of water was not now made in that conception, but 
for the land, because the places where they sow sugar cane and palay 
are impossible to be watered; and although the natives desired to 
exercise their rights it was now too late, because the civil guard on 
one side and the influence of the friars on the other are two axioms 
which prevent the public from exercising their real rights. Neverthe- 
less, a resident of Perez, Dasmarinas, formerly captain there, protested 
against the collections of tax on mountain products before the pro- 
vincial of the Recoletos and the authorities. He did not obtain a single 
favorable decision, but, on the contrary, was robbed of his fields with 
danger to himself. So that every day they continued to tighten the 
rein on the farmers and the despoiling takes place nearly every year. 

On the completion of the estimate of Father Andres upon the altera- 
tion of the interior of the church, the parish house, and the elevation 
of the steeple, the father provincial of the Recoletos took up the 
expense to be occasioned by the projected work, to the end that the 
funds of the hacienda should pay for the expense demanded by the 
estimate, the total of which reached the sum of $25,000. In the begin- 
ning the provincial inferred that the funds of the hacienda were under 
the control of the father in charge of the hacienda, and that therefore 
he could not dispose of them. In view of this answer he appealed to 
the father in charge of the hacienda, who also told the curate that 
under no conception could he make any expenditure without express 
authority of the four definers of the said corporation. Therefore 
Father Andres, as one of the definers, convoked his companionn to a 
meeting in the convent of the Recoletos in Manila, in order to discuss 



276 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

the matter. Upon the conclusion of the meeting they unanimously 
resolved to authorize the expenditure solicited by Father Andres, but 
there were debates when treating of the matter, and Father Andres 
relied on the argument that the entire hacienda belonged to the pueblo; 
that the church and the parish house also belonged to the pueblo, and 
that therefore the expense of the church should be borne by property 
of the pueblo, and so he was successful in his purpose. He also asked 
of the archbishop another sum for other expenses, which was granted; 
and two wealthy men of the pueblo, on their own part in response to 
the worth}^ actions of the curate, paid for the acquisition of the chan- 
deliers of the church, and the bells and hand bells which are now in 
the belfry. 

Father Gaudencio, the administrator, went out of office and was suc- 
ceeded by Father Valentin Apellaniz, his assistant being the lay 
brother Koman Cabellera. This priest had good principles, although 
young; he treated the farmers well, and permitted claims with the 
consent of the provincial. But his assistant was a miserable person, 
who only possessed the idea of charging for all the taxes. If any 
resident asked for the reduction for some manga trees which had died 
through old age or other reasons, he did not allow it, but compelled 
him to plant others to take their place without giving any reduction 
for the dead ones, and he also did the same with cane. The plunder- 
ing went on every year through some caprice of this layman. In the 
course of time there was a great increase in the taxes upon house sites 
and the hill lands, crops on the mountains, and land sown. This same 
layman directed the work on the dam of Pasong-castila, as the people 
recollect, the only one with license from superior authority, because 
in the archives of the court no other license is registered for the man}^ 
dams in the territory of Imus, and upon the completion of the work 
he considerably increased the pay for water for the crops of Alapan. 

In the year 1880 Father Andres Galdeano died, and was succeeded 
by Father Jose M. Learte, the same Father Valentin Apellanis being 
administrator, and his aid being the layman Roman Caballera. The 
blessed curate died without beginning the work on the floor of the 
church, because when he set out to commence the work he fell sick, was 
unable to recover from the illness, and expired. Father Valentin went 
to the parish the day succeeding his death and took out of the convent 
all the money which was in the chest of Father Andres, the sum reach- 
ing 138,000. According to persons close to the curate, of that sum only 
132,000 belonged to him, $5,000 was for the expense of the tarima, and 
11,000 funds of the church. Father Valentin took all to the hacienda 
house, and it is not known what was afterwards done with the money. 
According to statements Father Learte, the curate of Santa Cruz of 
Manila, learning of the death of Father Andres, endeavored to occupy 
the parish of Imus, while others say that they expelled him from Santa 
Cruz because they did not like his methods. However, no matter why 
he took his departure, the fact is that he was likewise not well suited to 
Imus, for after he had occupied the curacy one week he learned that 
the pueblo was not congenial to him nor he to the pueblo. This active 
hostility between the pueblo and the curate lasted for a long time, it 
being terminated by the revolution of 1896. This friar endeavored to 
retard progress. He compelled school teachers to educate the children 
in Tagalo, and if any father of a family sent his children to Manila to 
study that was enough to make him his enemy, and everj^ resident 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 277 

who spoke a little Spanish, in his opinion, was a filibuster, and as 
time went on, in his opinion, the Ulibusters increased, because they 
progressed in the Spanish lang-uage. In the je^r 1883 the custom of 
kissing the hand of the curate disappeared entirely, and was a fatal 
blow to him. From that year he began to recruit filibusters, believ- 
ing, perhaps, that by this means he would bring about the people's 
return to their primitive condition of submission to the friars, and, not 
content with this, he likewise founded lodges of Masonrv (sic), very 
slightly known to the people, and, as he did not tire of preaching against 
Masonry, making it appear abominable, as he said, because it did not 
recognize any other God than their own criminal acts; then the ignor- 
ant people, anxious to know the facts thorough^, found someone to 
seek the truth in the capital, Manila, in the Orient lodge of the same. 
It was found to be entireh^ opposite to what the curate had stated, 
and that in the heart of Masonry reigned peace and concord, and its 
doctrine is to love God before all things and your neighbor as your- 
self, teaching and inculcating in the hearts of men equality and 
brotherhood, the doctrine which our Lord Jesus Christ taught his 
disciples. By virtue of this Masonic lodges soon appeared in different 
parts of the province of Cavite. He became terrified at the shadow 
of the name Mason as soon as he learned that there were Masons on 
every corner. From that time he could not rest easy; he sought a 
means of impeding the march of progress of Masonry and went out, 
always laughed at, with all his civil guard. Masonry was still 
unknown in this pueblo when the pueblos nearest to Manila celebrated 
the fiesta of General Despujol, and one of these was Imus. All of its 
head men appeared at Malacanang with the proper obsequiousness, 
presided over by the local chief of the same, and on their return they 
were threatened by the father in charge of the hacienda with a total 
confiscation of their lands, which was not carried out for reasons 
unknown. But all were branded filibusters by Curate Learte and the 
father in charge of the hacienda, Juan Herrero. From that time they 
sought means to eject or expel from the pueblo some of these head 
men and meanly descended to a deceitful piece of work; that is, pre- 
tending an uprising. They gave good money to some low people who 
were to be the actors in the drama that was to take place in this pueblo. 
But their diabolical intentions miscarried, because the pueblo became 
aware of the trick. The most active men took a great interest in dis- 
covering who were the persons hired to be actors in the said function, 
and encountering them they told the truth. The}^ said that they were 
actually paid b}^ the friars, and although they had received a certain 
sum, it was not with the intention of carrying out the agreement made 
with them, but only to take advantage of their liberality. That is, 
they would procure for them as much money as they could and never 
would do what they were ordered, because they knew that the entire 
public in mass would be upon them and that therefore they would 
derive no benefit from the money received; so that on two occasions 
when the pretended uprising was announced nothing particular hap- 
pened, notwithstanding that some head men of the pueblo, advised by 
a Spaniard, absented themselves and changed their residence to the 
province of Tarlac in order to avoid trouble with the curate and the 
friar in charge of the hacienda, and these were threatened with confis- 
cation b}^ the friar in charge of the hacienda. 

In order not to break the succession of those in charge of the hacienda, 



278 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

let US here state the names of those who preceded Father Juan Herrero 
and their deeds. Father Exequiei Moreno took the place of Father 
Valentin Apellanis, because the latter went to Bacoor as temporary 
curate of the same, and Father Moreno, although elected manager, in 
no wise interfered in the matters of the hacienda and left ever^^thing 
to the will of the lay brother, Roman Cabellera, because the managing 
friar can not witness collections with a tranquil conscience; so that one 
da}^ at the feast of St. John the Baptist, the head men being at the house 
of the hacienda, the manager invited one of the head men, in whom he 
had confidence, to a private conversation, and when they were alone, and 
after having concluded the necessary ceremonious formalities, they 
seated themselves, and the manager began: "I want to tell you that 
within a few days I leave here for the Recoleto Convent." " Father, I 
am sorry, and I shall deepl}" feel the departure of a manager as good as 
your reverence," replied the head man, ''and why do you have to go so 
soon? Is not this work as peaceful as a priest can hope for?" The 
manager replied: " You can speak well of this position and wish it as 
well as you may, for you do not understand it at bottom; this aside 
from the fact that men differ in feature the same as they do in char- 
acter, and my character is not one to discharge curacies nor manager- 
ships of haciendas, for my conscience will not allow it. A corner in 
the convent of the Recoletos is more agreeable to me than all the 
haciendas and curacies of the corporation." The head man could not 
utter a sound, because the reasons advanced seemed to him ver}^ 
strange, and he began to suspect that he was talking to a saint. The 
priest, noticing that his interlocutor had ceased to speak, arose from 
his seat and said that perhaps his companions would be impatient, and 
the two bade each other good-b3"e very courteously, the friar con- 
ducting him to the last step of the stairs and immediately moving off 
toward the Recoleto convent; but he did not last there either, for it is 
said that he was elected rector of a college in Monte Agudo, which 
place he left for another locality as bishop. Well did he deserve this 
last charge, for he was the true pastor! When this priest left the 
hacienda Father Victor, whose surname it is said was Ruiz, took his 
place, the same lay brother Roman remaining as assistant. This latter 
priest left the management and direction of things on the hacienda 
to the discretion of the assistant; nevertheless he is a strong defender 
of its interests, as is shown by a case which occurred with the local 
presidente at that time, which is as follows: The public treasury 
of Cavite, suspecting that the haciendas of San Juan, San Nicolas, 
and Muntinlupa suppressed the truth in the sworn statements pre- 
sented in that year as to net profits ^delded b}^ the said haciendas — at 
a time when the Government charged a certain percentage on the land 
tithe — the local chief of Imus ordered an immediate inquiry to be made 
in order to arrive at the truth, and without raising a hand the said 
chief in compliance with his duty enters upon the said inquiry as fol- 
lows: He published a notice in and outside of the town for all the resi- 
dents who paid anything in money or in products to the hacienda of 
San Juan to present themselves, requesting at the same time of the 
friar manager, through a courteous communication, a certified copy of 
the schedule or list of those paying tithes for a certain number of 
3^ears, pursuant to the provisions of the said order, for the purpose 
of comparing them with the depositions appearing in the record. The 
friar manager becoming apprised of the communication and notice 



CHURCH LANDS 1^ PHILIPPIIS^E ISLANDS. 279 

published for three consecutive nights, he appeared in the parish and 
beg-ged the parish priest, Learte, to kindly summon the local chief. 
The parish priest did this; and Don Bernardino Paredes, for the chief 
was so named, without saying a word to him, the parish priest goes 
into his room, leaving him alone with the manager, who, after a 
moment's wait, spoke and said, "Captain, if 3^ou don't change your 
mind it will cost you dearly." The poor captain was dumbfounded 
and somewhat perplexed over the first remark of the manager, but 
coming to himself he replied: " Father, be kind enough to elucidate 
and repeat what 3"ou have said, for in truth I do not understand what 
you wish to say to me." '* Well, this," said the manager, " have you 
not published a notice for three nights calling upon the residents 

to appear in the court and make depositions about ?" ''Yes, 

father, pursuant to an order from the Government." "Well, you 
are very much mistaken about your carr3dng out the order, and I 
repeat to you that it will cost you very dearh^ if you do not change 
3^our mind. I will despoil 3^ou of your lands and will substitute the 
badge you carry with iron. If the Government has placed it on 
your chest, 1 will put it on your ankles," and he said a thousand other 
things to the poor captain which prudence will not allow to be repeated ; 
and lastl}^ the manager said: "If 3^ou do not change your mind by 
to-morrow morning at the first hour. I want to hear your answer from 
3"our own lips and at the house of the hacienda," and he departed 
immediately leaving the captain alone, without being able to articulate 
a word. Soon afterwards the parish priest, Learte, emerges from his 
room and found him half stunned, and as soon as he saw the priest 
come out he excused himself and left with his baton of office dishonored 
by the despot manager, making his wa}^ to his house and locking him- 
self in his room alone, preoccupied with the drama he had just wit- 
nessed. About 10 o'clock at night the crestfallen captain left his room 
calling upon one of his agents to summon at once an ex-captain in 
whom he had full trust. The agent did so, and the ex-captain was 
much astonished at so untimely an invitation; nevertheless he dressed 
himself quickly and followed the agent, for he presupposed that a case 
of much importance must have arisen to be called upon at such an hour, 
and when he had reached the house the local chief came out to meet him, 
and after an exchange of courtesies conducted him to his office, causing 
him to take a seat at his side and afterwards addressing him, sa^dng 
that he had made bold to summon him at that hour because he could 
not himself reach a decision upon a case which had occurred a short time 
ago, and he told him all that had occurred with the manager as is set 
forth above, and consulting him as to what he should do in the premises. 
The ex-captain becoming apprised of what had occurred sighing: "So 
3^ou have stood all these insults addressed to your authority with 
your baton of office in hand, when others Avould have broken the skull 
of the manager with the baton itself before suffering such insults to 
the prejudice of all authorities: but since it all happened thus, ma}" 
God grant you reward in His holy resignation, and I now counsel 3^ou 
not to pass the doors nor the threshhold of the hacienda, so as not 
suffer other insults, worse, perhaps, than the last, and verv early 
to-morrow morning go to the governor and tell him everything that 
has occurred to you with the manager, showing him the order of the 
government, and in view of it, request him to kindly solve the problem 
of the friar manaofer. At the same time ask him if there will be no 



280 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

objection to his acting as your second in a duel you desire to have 
with the manager, because 3"our honor and your conscience can not 
allow an offense to pass without complete satisfaction, and that you 
will inevitably call out the manager." On the following morning the 
captain went to Cavite, as did also the manager, and it was subsequently 
learned that a- settlement was reached and the record was pigeon- 
holed. This manager a few daj^s later departed for the Visayas as a 
curate, as rumor has it, and he was replaced by Father Juan Herrero, 
whose deeds Ave have already recorded hereinbefore. 

DECREE. 

In the archbishop's palace of Manila, the 20th day of October, 1795, 
the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Senor Don Friar Juan Antonio 
de Ordigo or Oudigo y Gallego, most worthy metropolitan archbishop 
of these Philippine Islands of the Council of H. M. , etc. 

Having seen this book on European paper presented by the Most 
Reverend Friar Francisco de Santiago of the sacred order of uncalced 
Augustinians, the curate recently elected of the pueblo and hacienda 
of Imus, separated from Old Cavite, petitioning and praying your 
excellency to be pleased to order that in this book the records of bap- 
tisms be kept that take place in this pueblo. That he ought to order 
and did order that it should be done in this book, which consists of 
190 pages. 

RECORDS. 

On the 27th day of the month of August, 1800, I, Friar Manuel de 
San Miguel, regularly constituted temporar}^ curate of this church of 
Nuestra Senora de Pilar, of the pueblo and hacienda of Imus, solemnly 
baptize my child, seventeen days of age, etc. 

On the 19th of the month of February, 1797, 1, Friar Alonso de Jubera 
de la Concepcion, regular curate of this pueblo and the hacienda of 
Imus, etc. 

On the 19th of the month of January, 1796, I, Friar Francisco de 
Santiago, curate of this hacienda and pueblo of Nuestra Senora de 
Pilar, etc. 

On the 21:th of May, 1806, I, Friar Mariano de San Miguel, regular 
curate of the pueblo and hacienda of Imus, etc. 

On the 5th day of August, of the year 1819, 1, Friar Manuel de San 
Miguel, regular curate of this church of Nuestra Senora de Pilar, of 
the pueblo and hacienda of Imus. etc. 

Note. — The subscriber declares that he knows the person who has 
written the present resume, who is a resident and head man of the 
pueblo of Imus. It ought to be added that in the archives there ought 
to be facts upon this matter. 

Felipe G. Calderon. 

Manila, Novemler 19, 1900. 



In addition to the foregoing, the commissioner, to whom was 
assigned the subject of the friars, examined, when no stenographer 
was present. Father W. D. McKinnon and Father Edw. H. Fitzger- 
ald, both of the Roman Catholic Church, who are army chaplains,. 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 281 

and who have been stationed in various parts of the islands and have 
mingled a great deal with the natives. From their knowledge of 
Spanish they have been able to gather a great deal of interesting and 
reliable information. They both stated without qualification that the 
friars were exceeding!}^ unpopular with the masses of the people, and 
that the feeling was not confined to a few persons or to the native 
priests. They both thought it would be a mistake to attempt to send 
back the friars to their parishes. 

A similar conversation was had with Maj. W. H. Johnston, of the 
Fort3-sixth Infantry and inspector-general of one of the districts in 
Southern Luzon, who was a Roman Catholic and who has given special 
attention, when stationed in one of the parishes, to church matters. 
He states without qualification that a return of the friars to the par- 
ishes would be a great mistake; that the enmit}^ against them is felt 
deeply among the masses of the people, and that he has so reported 
to Archbishop Chapelle. 

Many other army officers and newspaper correspondents were con 
suited, and the statement in each instance was the same as that given 
above. 

Wm. H. Taft. 

ANSWERS. 

1. Sixteen years. 

2. In five provinces: Antique, Capiz, Iloilo, Cebu, and Manila. 

3. I have lived in constant contact with them, being intimate with 
them, eating with them, plaving with them. 

4. More than 200. 

5. Nine-tenths of them belong to the laboring class, and this is the 
general rule. In order to escape conscription or military service and 
to secure a living for their indigent families manv — the majority' — 
affiliated themselves with the Philippine missions, for the regular par- 
ish priests have the authority of their prelates to transmit to their fam- 
ilies every year a certain sum. This was a bait which attracted man}^ 
poor men to the cloisters. 

6. Talisa}^ (Cebu), Talamban and Minglanilla (do), Salitran, Vaic, 
Bacoor, Dasmariiias, Ymus, Liang, Buena Vista, Salinas, San Fran- 
cisco de Malabon, Malinta, Mandaloyon, Guadalupe, Pasa}^ Calamba, 
Tunasan, Santa Kosa, Montinlupa, Binan, Santa Cruz, Malabon, Los 
Banos, Tulisay, Santo Tomas, Cabm^ao, Pandi, Bocani, Marilao, San- 
tol, Orion, Baligo, Lolombo}^, Marigondong, Ternate, San Juan, and 
other places in Luzon. City real estate covering one-half of the walled 
city. Half a million of souls, the same of acres, and a million of pesos 
income, approximately. 

7 and 8. The heads of the government and of the church generally 
covered up each others' sins, and took no single step without counting 
on the acquiescence of the other; the parish priests serving as bailifi's 
and policemen, more or less dissemblingly in the pueblos, but perform- 
ing their duties very poorly, because they brought their personal inter- 
ests ever into play. 

9. They changed according to districts, evading the schedule of fees 
with futile pretexts of ancient customs which were against it. The 
marriage fees, which should not be charged to the laboring class, they 
were not exempted from, and were the cause of innumerable cases of 



282 CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 

public concubinage, for the fees were equal to the wages for twenty 
da3^s in the field and the poor could not afford the sacrifice. I have 
known thousands of cases of the kind in the poor pueblos. 

10. Let the civil commission read what is said in the fourth part of 
the " Defensa del Clero Filipino" (Defense of the Filipino Clergy), 
''The Friars Judged by Two Bishops, and Comments," and multiply 
b}^ ten what is set forth therein, for the bishops from their palaces can 
barely know one-third of the immoralities committed by the friars free 
and loose in the pueblos. If the commission is not endeavoring to 
deceive the Filipinos with these interrogatories, let it read those docu- 
ments and the memorial of Anda y Salizar, published by Senor Pardo 
Tavera. 

Nine-tenths of the friar parish priests leave progeny in their pueb- 
los, and in each pueblo there exists a nucleus of families related to the 
friars, of good social position and favored by the latter, and these are 
the ones who sigh and ask for the return of their natural protectors. 
The latter, in order to endow and maintain them in position, have had 
to oppress the people with a thousand rapacities under pretext of reli- 
gion, custom, and piet3^ Let the commission go to the pueblo of 
Dumangas; there is Fray. Burillo with 6 children; in Passi, Fray. 
Brabo, with 4; in Pototan, Fray. Ambrinos, with 3; in Duenas, Fray. 
Gallo, with 1; in Dingle and Janicea}^, Fray. Llorente, with 7; in Oton, 
Fray. Yloz (Diego), with 8: Fray. Joaquin Fernandez, with 3; in Sara, 
Fray. Paulino, with 4; in Bugason, Fray Manuel Arencio, with 6; in 
Dao (Antique), Fray. Bamba, with 8; in Guagua, Fray. Brabo 
(Antonio), with 3; in Lubao, Fray. Munoz, with 2; in Bataan, Fray. 
Marcilla, with 10; in Binondo and Pandacan, Archbishop Payo, with 
4; and so on in the four bodies which serve the parishes. As they 
take the vows at the age of 16, before they know what marriage is or 
what it is for, when they later go out into the world, they open their 
eyes, they make up for lost time, having money and opportunity. 

11. Their bad life, their exactions with the poor to meet the calls of 
an ostentatious life fashioned after the European, and to sustain their 
spurious families. Moreover, that ruinous idea of wishing to rule in 
the pueblos, putting their influence into pla}^ to accomplish it. 

This hostility is only against the four corporations which have 
administered the curacies; the others, devoted to education or lately 
arrived here, are not hated because they have not injured the coun- 
try in any wa}^ 

12. Undoubtedly. And let the commission inform itself of those 
deported from Malolos, Pampanga, Antique, Iloilo — the Hilarios, 
Tiburcios, Lacsamenes, Britanicos, Abanas, Adriaticos, Manzanillas, 
Advinculas, Francos, etc., and other families known in the provinces. 

13. As their life is frugal and simple and the}^ live in their native 
climate, they lack the great incentives to lust which burns up the 
European celibates, and consequentl}^ thej^ are more moral. 

14. Lege textos: Let the commission read the "Defensa del Clero 
Filipino" and the supplemental work thereto which is now in the press. 

15. I predict ill, because the wound is recent. Within twelve 3^ears 
they might return, but thoroughly reformed, and after man}^ fasts, so 
that lust may not dominate them anew. 

16. I predict well, if the archbishop does not become wedded to the 
friars, as Mons. Chapelle has already done, who has gone over to them 
body and soul, and, rather than confer the honors of introducer upon a 
Filipino clergyman, he has conferred them upon a Spanish layman 



CHURCH LANDS IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 283 

disguised as a priest, who up to a short time ago was a shopkeeper. 
If the archbishop will uphold the interests of the secular clergy uncon- 
ditionally, let him come and he will be well received; if not, he will 
not be, even though he perform miracles. 

17. That is not the old traditional form which was simpler and suffi- 
cient. It would be sufficient to put it into force again and the Catho- 
lic people would be satisfied. 

18. tVorse still, for the European spends three times as much as the 
frugal native clergyman, and not having a salary will take money from 
God knows where or how, being more inexorable with the poor than 
formerly. Through Christian economy they ought not to return 
to the curacies. The same thing will happen as in China, where many 
European Catholic missionaries lacking resources go into business 
secretly. 

19. Such a solution would have a ver}^ good efiect. since half a mil- 
lion Filipinos who are now colonists will become proprietors. 

If the civil commission is acting in good faith, let it recur to those 
colonist pueblos, requesting details as to how the corporations have 
gone on increasing their land holdings, and it will unearth curious and 
most scandalous histories. 

I do not go to greater length, because I judge that the commission 
has already formed its plan of government which it will carry into 
execution without reference to the information laid before it. Such 
is the opinion of the public, which is gaining ground. 

Hermenegildo J. Torres. 

Manila, Septemler 10, 1900. 



Office of the Military Governor, 

Island of Negros, 

Bacolod, November 22, 1900. 

The Secretary U. S. Philippine Commission, 

Manila, P. I. 
Sir: I am informed by the civil governor of this island that there 
is much opposition in Negros to the return of the friars, and that there 
is now being prepared a petition to the commission asking that they 
be not allowed to return there. He informs me that it will in all 
probability be signed by the officials of all the towns, as well as by 
almost all property holders in the island. 

As this is a matter that is not quite in the scope of^ my authority in 
Kegros. and as the people seem to be very much interested in the 
matter, I have the honor to request to be informed if there is any 
objection to such a petition being forwarded, in view of the general 
understanding by the people that the commission is desirous of look- 
ing into all matters of interest to the native population. 
Verv respectfull}^, 

C. W. Miner, 
Colonel Sixth Infantry, Military Governor of Negros. 

Writer notified that there is no objection whatever to such a petition 
being forwarded here, and that when received it will have the full 
consideration of the commission. 

December 1, 1900. 

O 



